
Class. ^2lT_11iZ 

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Copyright iN^. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



CONSECRATION 

AND PURITY 

OR 

THE WILL OF GOD CONCERNING ME 



BY 

MARY SPARKES WHEELER 



AUTHOR OF 



'The First Decade of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the 

Methodist Episcopal Church." "Poems for the Fireside.'' 

"As it is in Heaven," Etc. 



PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR 
Ocean Grove, N. J. 



v 

f 



Copyright. 1913 
By Mary Sparkes Wheeler. 



©CI.A35145 



"TO 
Them who are the called according to his purpose." 
"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; 
and I pray God your whole spirit and soul, and 
body be preserved blameless unto the coming of 
our Lord Jesus Christ." 

"Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will 
do it." Rom. 8: 28 and 11; Thess. 5: 23-24. 



CONSECRATION 

Take my life, and let it be 
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee. 

Take my moments and my days, 
Let them flow in ceaseless praise. 

Take my hands and let them move 
At the impulse of Thy love. 

Take my feet, and let them be 
Swift and "beautiful" for Thee. 

Take my voice and let me sing 
Always, only, for my King. 

Take my lips and let them be 
Filled with messages from Thee. 

Take my silver and my gold; 
Not a mite would I withhold. 

Take my intellect, and use 

Every power as Thou shalt choose. 

Take my will and make it Thine; 
It shall be no longer mine. 

Take my heart ; it is Thine own ; 
It shall be Thy royal throne. 

Take my love, my Lord, I pour 
At Thy feet its treasured store. 

Take myself, and I will be 
Ever, only all for Thee. 

— Havergal. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I. 

Consecration. 

CHAPTER n. 
Are we not fully saved when converted? 

CHAPTER HI. 
How soon after conversion should we begin 
to seek entire sanctification ? 

CHAPTER IV. 
Have faith in God. 

CHAPTER V. 
The joy of the Lord. 

CHAPTER VI. 
Individual responsibility. 

CHAPTER VII. 
We count them happy which endure. 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Is the doctrine of Christian perfection 

new? 

CHAPTER IX. 
The swan song of Harriet Beecher Stowe. 

Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe's experience. 
(5) 



6 CONTENTS 

CHAPTER X. 
Experience of Dr. Daniel Steel. 
Letter from Drew Theological Seminary, D. 
S. Spencer. 
Reply to D. S. S. 

CHAPTER XL 
Experience of the Author — M. S. Wheeler. 

CHAPTER XH. 
Experience of Mrs. Mary Grant Cramer, 
sister of President U. S. Grant. 



CONSECRATION 

AND PURITY 
OR 

THE WILL OF GOD CONCERNING ME. 



CHAPTER I. 

CONSECRATION. 

The question is often asked : "What shall I do to 
prepare myself for the reception of the fullness of 
the Spirit, or the blessing of perfect love?" And 
the answer as often is, "Consecrate yourself entirely 
to Christ." 

But perhaps you say : "I did do that when I was 
converted." 

Yes, as far as you knew, and as far as you were 
able with your limited knowledge of God's require- 
ments, you did give yourself entirely to Christ. 
You could receive pardon on no other condition. 

Justification is a high and joyful state. It is a 
new birth. We are born of God; made heirs of 
eternal life and glory. Our sins are pardoned, but 
we are not entirely free. Believers are not by vir- 
tue of the new birth free from the inward taint of 
sin. 

Bishop Hamline said: "I saw that in my heart 
were the roots of many evils which, though they 
could not grow while under the reign of grace, yet 
were ever ready to spring up under the least de- 
clinings of faith and love." Having discovered 
(7) 



S CONSECRATION 

these roots of bitterness, he continues: "I began 
to cry unto the Lord to deliver me from the re- 
mains of the carnal mind; I pe^^severed in almost 
unremitted cries for holiness/' 
Charles Wesley sings: 



'Take away our bent to sinning, 
Let us find that second rest." 



Bishop Francis Asbury, in the holy ardor of his 
soul, cried out: "O, Purity! O, Christian Per- 
fection! O, Sanctification ! It is heaven below to 
feel all sin removed. Preach it, whether they will 
hear or forbear. I feel divinely impressed to preach 
sanctification in every sermon." 

Bishop Foster, in his Christian Purity, says: 
"Holiness always begets happiness. Would you 
possess the one, you must not fail to gain the other. 
How great was your bliss when you heard the voice 
of pardon : when you felt the upspringing of purity 
within ! How the tumult of your heart was hushed 
into calm, and fear and sorrow, and remorse, gave 
place to quietness and assurance! Can you ever 
forget it? But this was only a prelude, a foretaste 
of that deeper, sweeter, ever-increasing joy of the 
heart all filled with God." The poet sings: 



"There is a spot to me more dear 

Than native vale or mountain; 
A spot for which affections' tear 

Springs grateful from its fountain. 
'Tis not where kindred souls abound, 

Though that is almost heaven : 
But where I first my Savior found, 

And felt my sins forgiven. 



CONSECRATION 9 

O, sacred hour ! O, hallowed spot ! 

Where love divine first found me, 
Wherever falls my distant lot, 

My heart shall linger round thee; 
And when from earth I rise to soar 

Up to my home in Heaven, 
Down will I cast my eyes once more 

To where I was forgiven." 

Notwithstanding the great joy that comes into the 
heart with the knowledge of pardoned sin, there is 
ever a yearning desire to have all sin die out in us. 

King Edward VI, who died in his youth, and 
was considered the most pious prince of his time, 
had in his Primer the following: 

"PRAYER FOK A PURE AND CLEAN 

HEART : 

The heart of man naturally is corrupt and un- 
searchable through the multitude of sins, which lie 
buried in it, insomuch that no man is able to say, 
'My heart is clean, and I am clear from sin.* 
Remove from me, therefore, O Heavenly Father, 
my corrupt, sinful, stony, stubborn, and unfaithful 
heart. Create in me a clean heart, free from all 
noisome and ungodly thoughts. Breathe into my 
heart, by Thy Holy Spirit, godly and spiritual 
motions ; that out of the good treasure of the heart 
I may bring forth good things, unto the praise and 
glory of Thy name. Amen !" Here the justified 
soul still feels the remains of the carnal mind, and 
prays for deliverance. 

Bishop Hedding, when addressing a class of 
ministers, said: **^You have been asked the follow- 



10 CONSECRATION 

ing questions, and have answered them in the 
affirmative : *Are you going on to perfection ? Do 
you expect to be made perfect m love in this life? 
Are you groaning after it?' 

"It is important for you as Christians, and as 
ministers, to have a thorough understanding of this 
great subject. The subject is Christian perfection, 
or being made perfect in love in this life. It is 
being delivered from sin, and filled with the love 
of God. I am asked to state the nature of justifi- 
cation, regeneration, and sanctification, and the dif- 
ference between them as distinct works of grace. I 
understand justification to be a pardon of past 
sins; and regeneration, which takes place at the 
same time, to be a change of heart, or of our moral 
nature. Regeneration also, being the same as the 
new birth, is the beginning of sanctification, though 
not the completion of it, or not entire sanctification. 
Regeneration is the beginning of purification ; entire 
sanctification is the finishing of that work." 

Christ is a perfect Savior. He has provided an 
uttermost salvation for His followers. We are ex- 
horted to leave the principles of the doctrines of 
Christ and go on to perfection. It is our privilege 
to "comprehend with all saints the length and 
breadth, the heighth and the depth, and to know 
the love of God which passeth knowledge, that we 
may be filled with all the fullness of God." 

As we before said, the first step to be taken in 
securing this blessing is to renew our consecration. 
A perfect consecration must precede our reception 
of the perfect love of God. Paul, the apostle, says : 



CONSECRATION 11 

"I beseech you, therefore, by the mercies of God, 
that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, 
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable 
service. Not a slaughtered animal body, such as 
you have been accustomed to offer, but present now 
at His spiritual altar your own bodies." Not dead 
bodies, but a living sacrifice, dedicated to God 
entirely, and irrevocably. 

As the ancient sacrifices were never to be taken 
back, so you must now yield yourselves, body, soul 
and spirit, to be employed in the service of Him 
who gave himself for you. Such a sacrifice is much 
more pleasing to God, and more efficacious in secur- 
ing the salvation of your soul than any ordinary 
Jewish sacrifice. Paul reasons: ''For if the blood 
of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer 
sprinkling the unclean, sanctified to the purifying 
of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of 
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered him- 
self without spot to God, purge your conscience 
from dead works to serve the living God." 

Dr. Adam Clarke says: "All these phrases are 
sacrificial, and show that there must be a complete 
surrender of the person — the body, the whole man, 
mind and flesh, to be given to God; and that he is 
to consider himself no more his own, but the entire 
property of his Maker." 

Jesus prayed that His disciples might have 
personal cleansing from sin — hearts purified and 
filled with holy love. He said: "Father, I have 
given unto them the words which Thou gavest me. 
.... And I have declared unto them thy name, 



12 CONSECRATION 

and will declare it; that the love wherewith thou 
hast loved me may he in them and I in them." This 
must be perfect love. 

Paul says: ''I beseech you, brethren!' How 
affectionately, how tenderly he addresses them! 
"By the mercies of God." What a motive for 
action! The mercies of God; who can compute 
them? Who can estimate them? Who can com- 
prehend them? Count, if you can, the stars in the 
milky-way, or all the worlds that roll in infinite 
space. Count the drops of water in the ocean, or 
the grains of sand upon its shores: but you can 
never count the mercies of God. How He has 
strewn them all along the pathway of our lives. 
And the promise remains — "He that trusteth in the 
Lord, mercy shall compass him about" — and "his 
mercy endureth forever." 

Josiah Quincy, formerly president of Harvard 
College, lived to be ninety-two years of age. He 
had kept a journal for many years. He was accus- 
tomed to sit, in the morning, in a large chair with 
a broad arm to it, which served as a desk, upon 
which he wrote his diary. July 1, 1864, he sat 
down in his chair as usual. His daughter brought 
him his journal. He at first declined to undertake 
his wonted task, but his daughter urged him not to 
abandon it. He took the book, and wrote the first 
verse of that grateful hymn of Addison: 



'When all thy mercies, O my God, 
My rising soul surveys, 

Transported with the view I'm lost 
In wonder, love, and praise." 



CONSECRATION 13 

The weary head dropped upon the bosom. The 
volume was ended. The soul had fled." 

Let us remember the bright things that have 
come into our lives. 

Dr. Guthrie says: "We write our blessings on 
the water, our afflictions on the rock." 

We say, 'T remember when that sad trial came 
to me. When the light of my life went out. When 
my wife, or my husband died; when my health 
failed, and I was a great sufferer. When the earth- 
quake occurred, and the cyclone came. Yes ! I 
remember these things, but I never had as much to 
rejoice over as many persons have had." 

We may hold a very small object so close to the 
eye that it shuts out all the landscape. So a little 
trial may be held so close to the heart that it shuts 
out all the view of the tender mercies of God. And 
yet, our afflictive dispensations often prove our 
greatest blessings. 

Many of God's children know by experience what 
it is to go into their dark Gethsemane alone, as 
did the suffering Son of God, and with crushed 
and bleeding hearts, and tear-dimmed eyes, say; 
"Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me, 
nevertheless, not my will but thine be done." And 
on such occasions have not the strengthening angels 
been present to bear us up, to fan us with their 
wings, and to whisper words of cheer, and courage? 
As we have arisen, we have felt new strength im- 
parted, and have gone forth with a stronger faith 
in the overshadowing presence of the Omnipotent 
One. 



14 CONSECRATION 

Consecration is our part of the work in obtaining 
sanctification. We do not ask God to consecrate us. 
We present our bodies a living sacrifice, and ask 
our Heavenly Father to accept our offering. There 
ig no merit in our presenting. ''Not by works of 
righteousness which we have done, but according 
to his mercy he saves us, by the washing of regen- 
eration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost." 
How quickly the blessing comes when the whole 
being is entirely consecrated, and the soul steps 
out on the promises of God. 

President Edwards says in his diary: "I have 
this day been before God, and have given myself, 
all that I am and have, to God, so that I am in no 
respect my own. I can challenge no right in myself, 
in this understanding, this will, these affections. 
Neither have I a right to this body or any of its 
members, no right to this tongue, these hands, these 
feet, these eyes, these ears; I have given myself 
clean away." 

O, that the church of God may measure up to 
this standard of entire personal consecration! 
Then, as with Barnabas, ''full of the Holy Ghost, 
and of faith," much people will be added unto the 
Lord. Then the power comes, the power that Jesus 
promised His disciples. Ye shall receive power 
after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. 

What a marvelously glorious experience had 
those disciples ! I have often tried to imagine what 
my feelings would have been, could I have stood 
with them and listened to the words of the Savior, 



CONSECRATION IS 

as He told them they should be His witnesses to the 
uttermost parts of the earth. Assuring them that 
they should be baptised with the Holy Ghost not 
many days hence, and that they should receive 
power that would qualify them for the work. "And 
then, with hands uplifted, as he was pronouncing a 
blessing upon us, while we all beheld steadfastly, 
we saw his feet part from the earth, and suddenly, 
but gradually, rising higher and higher, until a 
cloud received him out of our sight." 

No wonder the disciples stood gazing stead- 
fastly up into heaven, transfixed — loath to take 
their eyes from the cloud of glory which received 
Him — until the two men in white apparel said : "Ye 
men of Gallilee, why stand ye gazing up into 
heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from 
you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as 
ye have seen him go into heaven." 

"We came with him to Bethlehem, to help herald 
his birth — we sang 'Glory to God in the highest, 
peace on earth and good will to men' — and now 
that his redemptive work is finished, we came to 
accompany him back to the throne of his Father's 
glory. But he'll not forget you, or cease to love 
you. He is, according to his promise, coming back 
for you, and ye shall be caught up together with 
him. So shall ye be forever with your Lord." But 
suppose I had been with them, and knew there 
could be no deception about it. I saw it myself ! 
I knew that Jesus had gone up on high, and entered 
into heaven, from whence He came ! Could I ever 



16 CONSECRATION 

doubt Him? Could any power of earth cause me 
to lose faith in His word, or in His promises to me ? 
No! It would be impossible. 

Thank God we have the word, with the assurance 
that this occurred. And this word has been tested 
for nineteen hundred years. In it we read: 
"Neither pray I for these alone, but for them which 
shall believe on me through their word, that they 
all may be one, and the glory which thou gavest 
me, I have given them, that they may be one, even 
as we are one." 

The same baptism of the Holy Spirit, the strength 
imparted thereby, is for us if we are His witnesses. 

"Ye shall receive power!" What kind of power? 
Was it to be political, physical, or intellectual 
power? The power of eloquence or logic? No! 
The Holy Spirit was to be poured upon them to 
qualify them to be witnesses that should convince 
and convert. 

Thirty years after he received the blessing of 
perfect love. Dr. Daniel Steele wrote : "In the pro- 
motion of the spirituality of the church, and the 
conversion of sinners, I see more and more clearly 
the futility of all substitutes for the Holy Spirit — 
music, architecture, oratory, literary culture, and 
social festivities to sway the adults, and young 
people's organizations and amusements to attract 
the young. All these are so many fire-flies in place 
of the sun, "-o illume and warm the world and con- 
serve vegetable and animal life. The spiritual 
decline over which the churches are mourning began 



CONSECRATION 17 

years ago in the neglect, in the pulpit, of those 
truths which promote regeneration and entire sanc- 
tification." 

To be witnesses for Jesus in the disciples' day — 
that age of darkness and unbelief — they needed 
more than natural human eloquence, or reasoning, 
or magnetic power. Christ proposed to give them 
supernatural power to energize and quicken their 
intelligence, to bring all things that He had spoken 
to their remembrance. To give power to their 
utterances, and to give them fortitude and strength 
with which to meet their adversaries. It gave the 
disciples fresh life and hope, and under this inspira- 
tion the apostles went forth to win the world, with 
the assurance that the Omnipotent Jesus, Whom 
they really saw ascend into heaven, would be with 
them to the end of the world. 

They returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and 
were continually praising God. No wonder ! Their 
joy must have been ecstatic, Jesus had gone, it is 
true, and they were to see His face no more. They 
were never more to commune with Him in the 
body ; but they had seen Him go up to heaven alive. 
They were to meet Him again. The separation 
would be short, and the Comforter was soon to 
come, to abide with them. 

It seems to me if I had been one of them, I 
could hardly have waited to reach the places, but 
should have been compelled to run with haste to 
tell the story. They went forth full of joy, full of 
faith, full of courage, full of energy, and full of 



18 CONSECRATION 

power to establish Christ's kingdom. They ex- 
pected success. When they prayed they expected 
the answer to their petitions and they were not 
disappointed. 

Jesus said: "John baptised you with water unto 
repentance, but ye shall be baptised with the Holy 
Ghost. There is a nobler baptism prepared for 
you, and which you shall receive from Me, to fur- 
nish you for the great work to which I have com- 
missioned you. We believe if any of the carnal 
mind, or imbred sin, remained in their hearts when 
this baptism came the cleansing blood was applied, 
every stain was washed away, and they were wholly 
sanctified. Nothing short of this could satisfy the 
divine Lord as to their fitness for the work; and 
nothing short of this will make us all that God 
would have us to be. 

Our religion does not consist in contemplation 
alone, but in active struggle to put all sin out of our 
hearts, and to help others to do the same. Neither 
should we be satisfied with Christ alone outside 
of us. We may believe in Christ as crucified, dead, 
buried, risen, ascended, without being fully saved. 
We must have Christ in us, the hope of glory. 
Christ enthroned in our hearts : 

"A heart in every thought renewed 
And full of love divine, 
Perfect, and right, and pure, and good, 
A copy, Lord, of Thine." 

If our hearts are copies of the Lord's, they will be 
pure, they will be spotless, without blemish, or 



CONSECRATION 19 

wrinkles, or any such thing, and if kept thus, they 
will be preserved blameless. Then when our hearts 
are cleansed, they are ready to be filled. The Holy 
Spirit has full sway in us, and we are sure of 
success. 

Have you not seen times in your own experience 
when you were in great need, and you opened God's 
word to find some promise to strengthen and en- 
courage your heart, and as you read the word it 
seemed full of new meaning? You said: "It is 
wonderful ! I have read this so many times, and 
I never understood it as I do now." It was the 
Holy Spirit revealing the things of God to you. 

I once was at a camp meeting where the Rev. 
J. A. Wood, author of "Perfect Love," "Purity 
and Maturity," etc., was present. He had just en- 
tered into this perfect rest. I remember he was 
called upon to exhort the unconverted after the 
morning sermon. That used to be the fashion — a 
sermon, then an exhortation. Brother Wood could 
not ex:hort until he had told what God had done 
for him ; until he had proclaimed Christ's wondrous 
power to save. Holding the Bible in one hand and 
the hymn book in the other, he said: 

"O, brethren, this Bible and hymn book are both 
full of it. Full of perfect love, full of purity, full 
of sanctification. I have time to read only one text, 
but just listen to it: 'And the very God of peace 
sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole 
spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless 



20 CONSECRATION 

unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.' This 
book is also full of it, but I must take time to read 
but one stanza. It is this: 

'I wait till He shall touch me clean, 

Shall life and power impart, 
Give me the faith that casts out sin. 

And purifies the heart.' 

Here it is, brethren, given by two eminent author- 
ities, Paul and Charles Wesley. Let us enter into 
this perfect rest!" 

A ministerial brother came once to assist my hus- 
band in revival services. Seated in my husband's 
study, we entered into conversation about the work 
that lay before us, and the qualifications necessary 
for the laborers, to ensure success. The next day 
the brother came in and said : "Ever since our con- 
versation yesterday I have felt that I lack power 
with God, and I must have the full salvation we 
talked about. Please tell me your experience. Just 
how you obtained it, and then pray with me here. 
I feel as if I could not preach or labor for Christ 
with this burden on my heart." We kneeled in 
prayer, and lifted our hearts to God for a blessing 
to fall on our brother, but he could not enter in 
because of his unbelief. He went to the meeting 
that evening, surrendered all to Christ, and by faith 
the cleansing blood was applied and he was glori- 
ously blessed. He came right over to the parsonage 
to tell us the glad tidings. Shortly after leaving us, 
he wrote the following: 



CONSECRATION 21 

''Dear Brother and Sister : Hallelujah ! O, I am 
wholly the Lord's ! Body, soul, spirit, time, talents, 
my influence, my all, belongs to God. I know 
whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is 
able to keep that which I have committed unto Him 
against that day. By the help of the dear Re- 
deemer I can hold the cross up higher to-day than 
I ever did before. It is so easy now to say Glory! 
Glory! Glory! My soul is filled. My all is on the 
altar. 

"It is midnight. I must close. How I wish I 
could see you and tell you how much I do lo\e 
Jesus. I am willing to spend and be spent. O, I 
am willing to take the smallest appointments or to 
go as a missionary, or do anything for Jesus. Pray 
for me, that the work of God may prosper in my 
hands, and tell my friends that my life is all sufi' 
shine!" 

He continued in this happy frame of mind until 
Jesus took him home. Though in the prime of life, 
he lived but a short time afterward. 

As this subject was commenced with Frances 
Havergal's Consecration Hymn, it seems fitting to 
close with the words spoken by her at the end of 
her consecrated Hfe. The last day Miss Havergal 
was living she asked a friend to read the forty- 
second chapter of Isaiah to her. When the sixth 
verse was reached: 'T, the Lord, have called thee 
in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will 
keep thee," Miss Havergal stopped her. "Called — 
held — kept," she whispered, "Well, I will just go 
home on that/* 



CHAPTER 11. 

ARE WE NOT FULLY SAVED WHEN CONVERTED? 

"Thou knowest, Lord, I am not blest 

As Thou wouldst have me be, 
Till all the peace and joy of faith 

Possess my soul in Thee; 
And still I seek, 'mid many fears, 

With yearnings unexpressed. 
The comfort of thy strengthening love, 

Thy soothing, settling rest." 

Many sincere Christians ask: "Are we not sanc- 
tified when we are adopted into the family of God? 
Can we be lost when we are heirs of heaven? Is 
it not written: 'He that is born of God doth not 
commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he 
cannot sin because he is born of God !' " 

Yes. It is impossible for persons converted, 
living acceptable unto God, in a justified state, to be 
lost; even if they die before becoming wholly sanc- 
tified. 

Dr. Peck, in his "Christian Perfection," says : "It 
is most absurd to suppose that a justified soul can 
be lost, without having forfeited his justification by 
backsliding." 

(22) 



CONSECRATION 23 

Sanctification begins at justification. At the same 
time that we are justified, we are also born again; 
sanctified in part, but not entirely purified from 
all sin. Our Lord prayed for the sanctification of 
his disciples. In his last prayer with them he said : 

"Father, sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy 
word is truth. And for their sakes I sanctify my- 
self, that they also might be sanctified through the 
truth/' 

Some say: "God has pardoned our sins. We 
know when we were converted. We had the assur- 
ance that the work was done, and we have been 
members of the church ever since. We have never 
backslidden, but we are told that we must seek and 
obtain this second blessing, which they denominate 
sanctification, or holiness, and they quote the words : 
'Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.' They 
teach that pardon, or justification, is not sufficient 
to secure for us a place in heaven." 

Mr. Wesley says: "The term sanctified is con- 
tinually applied by St. Paul, to all that were justi- 
fied. By this term alone he rarely, if ever, means 
'saved from all sin.' " And that consequently, it 
is not proper to use it in that sense without adding 
the word wholly, entirely, or the like. Again: 
"Now the word of God plainly declares, that even 
those who are justified, who are born again in the 
lowest sense, 'do not continue in sin'; that they 
cannot live any longer therein — Rom. vi., 1, 2 ; that 
they are planted together in the likeness of death 
of Christ, verse 5; that their old man is crucified 



24 CONSECRATION 

with Him ; the body of sin being destroyed, so that 
henceforth they do not serve sin; that being dead 
with Christ, they are free from sin, verses 6, 7 ; that 
they are dead unto sin, and aUve unto God, verse 
1 1 ; that sin hath no more dominion over them, who 
are not under the law, but under grace; but that 
these, 'being free from sin, are become the servants 
of righteousness,' verses 14, 18," 

He continues : "How naturally do those who ex- 
perience such a change imagine that all sin is gone; 
that it is utterly rooted out of their hearts." . . . 
**But it is seldom long before they are undeceived, 
finding sin was only suspended, not destroyed. 
Temptations return and sin revives, showing that 
it was but stunned before, not dead. We are 
enabled by the Spirit to mortify the deeds of the 
body, of our evil nature; and as we are more and 
more dead to sin, we are more and more alive to 
God. It is thus that we wait for sanctification ; for 
a full salvation from all our sins, from pride, self- 
will, anger, unbelief, or, as the apostle expresses it, 
'go on to perfection.' " 

Paul, in writing to his brethren, the Thessaloni- 
ans, says : ''And the very God of peace sanctify you 
wholly ; and I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, 
and body be preserved blameless unto the coming 
of our Lord Jesus Christ." 

Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself 
for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with 
the washing of water by the word; that He might 
present it to Himself a glorious church, "not having 



CONSECRATION 25 

Spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it 
should be holy and without blemish." 

How do we get the spots out of our garments? 
We purify them by washing. How are the wrinkles 
removed? It requires heat, or pressure, for this. 
They may be washed whiter than snow, but oh, the 
wrinkles ! While they remain it will not be a per- 
fect garment. A hot iron is often used to remove 
these. Our Heavenly Father sometimes permits 
fiery trials to come into our lives to polish and 
beautify our garments of righteousness. ''Beloved, 
think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which 
is to try you, as though some strange thing hap- 
pened unto you, but rejoice inasmuch as ye are 
partakers of Christ's sufferings ; that when his glory 
shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceed- 
ing joy." The trials from which we shrink are 
often ''Steps into Heaven." Sarah Adams sings : 

"Then with my waking thoughts 

Bright with Thy praise, 
Out of my stony griefs 

Bethel I'll raise; 
So by my woes to be 
Nearer, my God, to Thee ! 

Nearer to Thee !" 

"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the 
Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall 
be as white as snow; though they be red like crim- 
son, they shall be as wool." 'Tf we walk in the 
light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one 
with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son 
cleanseth us from all sin. If we confess our sins, 



26 CONSECRATION 

He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and 
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." "Whoso 
hath this hope in Him, purifieth himself, even as He 
is pure." God's word abounds with these precious 
promises and exhortations. 

This question is sometimes asked : "Are not some 
Christians sanctified at the time of their conver- 
sion?" 

In Everett's Life of Dr. Adam Clarke, we read: 
"I believe justification and sanctification to be 
widely distinct works. I have been twenty-three 
years a traveling preacher, and have been acquainted 
with some thousands of Christians during that time, 
who were in different states of grace ; and I never, 
to my knowledge, met with a single instance where 
God both justified and sanctified at the same time. 
I have heard of such, but I never saw them, and 
doubt whether any such ever existed. I have known 
multitudes who were justified according to the 
definition which you give of that sacred work, and 
I have known many who were sanctified in the sense 
in which you use that word, which I believe to be 
quite correct; but all these I found were brought 
into these different states at separate times, having 
previously received a deep conviction of the need 
of pardon, and afterward of the need of holiness 
of heart." 

Peck, in his "Christian Perfection," says: "If 
there ever was an instance of one who, before justi- 
fication, had a distinct and comprehensive idea of 
his inward corruptions, and who sought and ob- 



CONSECRATION 27 

tained entire sanctification at the time of his justi- 
fication, it must be considered, as Mr. Wesley very 
justly says, 'an exempt case' ; and I will add, it is 
such a case as never came under my own obser- 
vation." 

I remember, on one occasion, while leading a 
holiness meeting at a camp-meeting, where many 
had sought and obtained the blessing, and much 
holy enthusiasm prevailed, a man arose in the rear 
of the audience and said: 

"I want to bear my testimony. My God is a per- 
fect Savior ! He did it all right when He saved me. 
Hallelujah! He didn't do it by the piece-meal or 
the halves. I was down in that horrible pit of mire 
and clay. And this poor man cried and the Lord 
heard him. Hallelujah! And He lifted me right 
out. He didn't pull me half way up, and let me 
hang, and wait for a second blessing, but He gave 
one pull and drew me out and put my feet upon 
the rock, and put a new song in my mouth. Halle- 
lujah ! What do you think of my experience? Isn't 
that the best way? Let God do it in His own way, 
and you need not worry about the next pull." 

As he took his seat he gave us a look of inquiry, 
and I replied: 

'*Yes, brother! God did do a blessed work for 
you, when He forgave your sins, made you an 
heir of Heaven, and put a new song in your mouth. 
You had reason to sing praises, and to shout Halle- 
lujah! He did not need to do the work a second 
time ; for He forgave "not in part but the whole." It 



28 CONSECRATION 

is a great thing to be converted, to have our past 
sins blotted out. But is your heart cleansed? Are 
you free from sin? If, as you say, you were down 
in that horrible pit of mire and clay, though you 
are lifted out of the mire and saved with the powers 
of an endless life, you need cleansing. You will 
find the mire of the pit still about you, and Christ 
has opened a fountain for sin and uncleanness, and 
tells you that you may wash and be made whiter 
than snow." 

Dr. Adam Clarke says: "Complete sanctification 
is washing the soul of a true believer from the 
remains of sin." 

Rev. Luther Lee says: "Sanctification is that 
renewal of our fallen nature by the Holy Ghost, 
received by faith in Jesus Christ, whose blood of 
atonement has power to cleanse from all sin; where- 
by we are not only delivered from the guilt of sin, 
which is justification, but are washed entirely from 
its pollution, freed from its power, and are enabled, 
through grace, to love God with all our hearts, and 
to walk in his holy commandments blameless." 
Theology, p. 21L 

Bishop J. T. Peck : "In the merely justified state 
we are not entirely pure. . . . But in the work 
of entire sanctification, these impurities are all 
washed away, so that we are wholly saved from 
sin, from its inward pollution." Central Idea, p. 52, 

"As far as the East is from the West, so far 
hath he removed our transgressions from us." 



CONSECRATION 29 

''As far as the East is from the West! How- 
far is that?" I heard one ask. 

''Well, brother," was the reply, "you take a meas- 
uring line in your hand and go East, and let your 
friend take one and go West, and I assure you 
you'll never meet again." 

I read of a man who was a great shouter, and 
made so much noise about his religion that many 
persons were often annoyed. If he called on his 
pastor he would begin praising God in a loud voice. 
He called at the parsonage one morning. As the 
pastor was engaged and could not come to him for 
some little time, he excused himself, and said : "I 
have a book here, brother, that you may read for 
your entertainment during my absence." It was a 
work on geology. The pastor said within himself: 
"I think this will keep him quiet for awhile." 

In a few minutes he heard the man shouting 
"Hallelujah! Glory to God!" 

"John," said the pastor, as he came to him smil- 
ing, "what's the matter now? What do you find 
to shout about?" 

"O, sir, this blessed book you gave me to read 
says the sea, in some places, is more than three 
miles deep ! God says he'll cast my sins into the 
depths of the sea! Hallelujah! They are so far 
down they can never come up again to accuse me. 
Glory to God !" 

We find by reading our Father's will, that He 
has provided perfect salvation for all His children, 



30 CONSECRATION 

and He invites us to accept it. He has not left us 
to choose, whether we will or will not accept the 
gracious invitation, but He has also given His im- 
perative command : ''Be ye, therefore, perfect, even 
as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." He 
has encouraged us by many exceeding great and 
precious promises. 

"Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, 
let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the 
flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of 
God." ''Casting down imagination and every high 
thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of 
God, and bringing into captivity every thought to 
the obedience of Christ." 

And now, dear reader, we commend you to Him 
who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all 
that we ask or think, and may the "God of hope fill 
you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may 
abound in hope, through the power of the Holy 
Ghost." 



CHAPTER III. 

HOW SOON AFTER CONVERSION SHOULD WE SEEK FOR 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION ? 

"Onward, ever onward, 

Journeying o'er the road 
Worn by saints before us, 

Journeying on to God ! 
Leaving all behind us. 

May we hasten on, 
Backward never looking 

Till the prize is won." 

We think we cannot begin too soon. When the 
soul is first converted, it is filled with gratitude to 
God for pardoned sin, and the heart is all aglow 
with Divine love, and it sings as naturally as it 
breathes : 

"O, how happy are they who their Saviour obey, 
And have laid up their treasure above. 
Tongue can never express the sweet comfort and peace 
Of a soul in its earliest love." 

Then it seems easy to go on unto perfection. 

John Wesley, in a letter to Thomas Rankin, says : 

"I have been lately thinking a good deal on one 

point, wherein, perhaps, we have all been wanting. 

We have not made it a rule, as soon as ever persons 

(31) 



32 CONSECRATION 

are justified, to remind them of going to perfection, 
WHEREAS THIS IS THE VERY TIME PREF- 
ERABLE TO ALL OTHERS They have then 
the simpHcity of little children ; and they are fervent 
in spirit, ready to cut off a right hand or pluck out 
the right eye. But if we once suffer this fervor to 
subside, we shall find it hard to bring them again 
even to this point." 

Rev. A. A. Phelps says : ''At regeneration, guilt 
is removed, the power of sin is broken, the outlines 
of God's moral image are impressed on the heart, 
and the seeds of all holy affections are implanted. 
This is a great work ; let it never be depreciated or 
minified. But there is something deeper, higher, 
richer, better. Christian perfection means a destruc- 
tion of the carnal mind — crucifixion of the old man 
— a complete removal of imbred depravity — a full 
conquest of the volitions and affections — a perfect 
restoration of the divine image. Negatively, it is 
subtraction — a cleansing process. Positively, it is 
addition — a filling process. Christian perfection 
may therefore be defined by these simple terms : 
Perfect love dwelling in a pure heart!' 

Rev. Albert Barnes, the Commentator, gives us 
the following: ''A man who has been redeemed by 
the blood of the Son of God should be pure. He 
who is an heir of life should be holy. He who is 
attended by celestial beings, and who is soon — he 
knows not how soon — to be translated into Heaven, 
should be holy. Are angels my attendants? Then 
I should walk worthy of my companionship. Am 



CONSECRATION 33 

I so soon to go and dwell with angels? Then I 
should be pure. Are these feet so soon to tread 
the courts of Heaven? Is this tongue so soon to 
unite with heavenly beings in praising God? Are 
these eyes of mine so soon to look on the throne 
of eternal glory, and on the ascended Redeemer? 
Then these feet, and eyes, and lips, should be pure 
and holy, and I should be dead to the world, and 
live for Heaven." 

But the first important step is to know that we 
are converted. It is not enough that we desire to 
be forgiven and saved, but we must know that 
we are saved, and adopted into the family of God. 
Sometimes persons who have never had a satis- 
factory experience of their acceptance with God, 
go to the altar to get the witness of the Spirit, that 
the work is done, and when the blessing is received 
imagine they are sanctified. This is a mistake. I 
remember when first converted, at the age of four- 
teen, I used to hear the class leader sing: 

*'Ye who know your sins forgiven, and are happy in the 

Lord, 
Have you read God's gracious promise that is left you in 

His word? 
*I will sprinkle you with water, I will cleanse you from 

all sin — 
Sanctify and make you holy, I will come and reign 

within.' " 

I used to soliloquise in this way. "Ye who know 
your sins forgiven, and are happy in the Lord." 
That means me. I do know my sins are forgiven, 
and I am happy in the Lord, and I have read these 
precious promises and know God has provided for 



34 CONSECRATION 

my uttermost salvation. Then the conviction would 
come to me for heart purity. 

You ask, How shall I know when I receive a 
blessing whether God is giving me pardon or entire 
cleansing? God will give you just what you ask 
for, if your consecration and faith is complete. 
"Whatsoever things ye desire when ye pray, believe 
that ye receive them and ye shall have them." 
Jesus said: ''What man is there of you whom, if 
his son ask bread, will give him a stone? Or if 
he ask a fish will give him a serpent? If ye then, 
being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your 
children, how much more shall your Father which 
is in Heaven give good things to them that ask 
him." 

Then, too, your convictions and petitions differ. 
When unsaved you are convicted of guilt. You 
feel God's condemnation resting upon you, and you 
ask for pardon and reconciliation. When seeking 
sanctification, or entire purity, you ask for the 
removal of imbred sin. You feel that you need the 
cleansing blood applied to your heart ; and when the 
application is made, you sing: 

"'Tis done! the great transaction's done. 
I am my Lord's and he is mine." 

and with Horatius Bonor, you feel that 

"This holiness or consecration extends to every 
part of our person. It fills up our being. It spreads 
over our life. It influences everything we are, or 
do, or think, or speak, or plan ; small or great, out- 



CONSECRATION 35 

ward or inward, negative or positive; our loving, 
our hating, our sorrowing, our rejoicing, our recrea- 
tion, our business, our friendship, our relationship, 
our silence, our speech, our reading, our writing, 
our going out and our coming in, our whole man, in 
every movement of spirit, soul and body." 

Perhaps you are waiting to feel more joy — 
greater emotion. Esther Ann Rogers said, after 
receiving the blessing: "O, the depths of solid peace 
my soul now feels 1 But I have not so much rap- 
turous joy as at justification. It is : 



" 'The sacred awe, which dares not move, 
And all the silent heaven of love.' " 



You sometimes think : "If I could receive this bless- 
ing in the same manner as many others whom I 
have seen with faces shining with divine light, and 
heard them shouting aloud with joy, then I would 
not doubt. I could beheve that I am really sancti- 
fied. O, if I could get such a blessing how I would 
rejoice, and how glad I would be to confess to the 
glory of God that my soul is perfectly cleansed." 
But the emotion is not the blessing. 

"I dare not trust the sweetest frame, 
But wholly lean on Jesus' name." 

Our emotions vary, and are but physical and out- 
ward signs of a spiritual work wrought within us. 
''There is a diversity of operations, both with 
respect to the divine and human spirit, yet the 
blessed results are the same." 



36 CONSECRATION 

Some who are fully sanctified make no demon- 
stration that an observer could detect. They are 
consciously saved and enjoy the ''blessed quietness" 
and "wonderful peace" of which the pure in heart 
so often sing; while others filled with the Spirit are 
ready to respond to the words of the inspired 
writer: ''Let the inhabitants of the Rock sing! 
Let them shout from the tops of the mountains." 

It is true that noise and excitement are no certain 
evidences of the peace that passeth knowledge. And 
yet we should not be afraid of getting too much 
joy into our hearts. "The joy of the Lord is your 
strength." "The fruit of the Spirit is joy." Re- 
joice in the Lord always — and again I say rejoice." 

John Newton said: "I have been enabled to 
commit my soul to Him who says : 'Him that 
Cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out/ and 
who is able to save to the uttermost! These two 
texts have been as sheet anchors by which my soul 
has outrode many a storm when otherwise hope 
would have failed. 'In no wise' takes in all char- 
acters, and to the uttermost goes many a league 
beyond all difficulties. I recommend these anchors; 
they are sure and steadfast. 

In the ''Annals of a Quiet Neighborhood" we 
find the following incident: The vicar called upon 
an old man and found him alone in an upper room 
confined to his bed. But that upper room was filled 
with the power of Pentecost. The old man's face 
was radiant, and his heart was overflowing with 
joy. "Are you not lonely, Mr. Weir?" the vicar 



CONSECRATION 37 

asked. ''No, sir; I don't know as I ever was less 
lonely. I've got my stick, you see, sir," the old man 
said, pointing to a thorn stick which lay beside him. 
*'I do not quite understand you," the vicar said. 
"You see, sir, when I want anything, I've only to 
knock on the floor, and up comes my son from out 
the shop. And then again, when I knock at the 
door of the house up there, my Father opens it and 
looks out. So I have both my son on earth and my 
Father in heaven, and what can an old man want 
more." There was the saint's blessedness that 
would never fail on earth or in Heaven. 

Dr. Adam Clarke says : 'The churches who give 
up preaching entire sanctification will soon lose their 
glory." . . . This fitness, then, to appear be- 
fore God, and thorough preparation for eternal 
glory, is what I plead for, pray for, and heartily 
recommend to all true believers, under the name of 
Christian perfection." 

Dear reader, if you are seeking for entire redemp- 
tion through the blood of Christ, and feel that you 
have not "already attained, either were already per- 
fect," we entreat you to continue to "press toward 
the mark for the prize of the high calling of God 
in Christ Jesus." And we leave with you the beau- 
tiful prayer for a clean heart that was offered by 
the sainted Hester Ann Rogers. It was a prayer 
that flowed spontaneously from a heart filled with 
an ardent desire to be fully saved. She says : 

"The Lord gave me that promise, T will circum- 
cise thy heart, and thou shalt love the Lord thy 



38 CONSECRATION 

God with all thy heart.' " I said : Lord, Thou art 
faithful, and this is Thy word: I cast my whole 
soul upon Thy promise; make known Thy faith- 
fulness by performing it on my heart. Circumcise 
it now; fill it now with Thy pure love; sanctify 
every faculty of my soul; I offer all to thee. Al- 
mighty Jesus, for my wisdom, my righteousness, 
my sanctification. Now 'cleanse me from all my 
filthiness and from all my idols; take away the 
heart of stone, and give me a heart of flesh.' I 
come empty to be filled ; deny me not. It would be 
for Thine own glory to save me now, for how much 
better could I serve Thee." 

It is true I have no plea but Thy mercy, the 
blood of Jesus, Thy promise, and my own great 
need. O, save me fully, by an act of free grace! 
Thou hast said : *'He that believeth shall be saved" ; 
I now take Thee at thy word. I do by faith cast 
myself on thy promises; I venture my soul on thy 
veracity; thou canst not deny! Being purchased 
by Thy blood. Thy justice is engaged; being prom- 
ised without money and without price. Thy truth is 
bound; thus every attribute of my God secures it 
to me. 

Ah ! why did I ever doubt His willingness when 
He gave Jesus ! Gave Him to destroy the works 
of the devil — to make an end of sin ! ''The hin- 
drance was in me, not Him. He desired to make 
me holy, but unbelief hid it from my eyes ; accursed 
sin." But now, Lord, I do believe; this moment 
Thou dost save me! Yea, Lord, my soul is deliv- 



CONSECRATION 39 

ered of her burden. I am emptied of all; I am at 
Thy feet, a helpless, worthless worm ; but I take 
hold of Thee as my fullness ! Everything that I 
want Thou art. Thou art wisdom, strength, love, 
holiness ; yes, and thou art mine. I am conquered 
and subdued by love. Thy love sinks me into noth- 
ing; it overflows my soul. O, my Jesus, Thou art 
all in all ! In thee I behold all the fullness of the 
Godhead mine. I am now one with God ; the inter- 
course is open; sin, imbred sin, no longer hinders 
the close communion, and God is all my own! 

BE WITH ME, LORD. 

"Through every minute of this day 

Be with me, Lord ! 
Through every day of all this week 

Be with me, Lord ! 
Through every week of all this year 

Be with me, Lord ! 
Through all the years of all this life 

Be with me. Lord ! 
So shall the days and weeks and years 

Be threaded on a golden cord, 
And all draw on with sweet accord 

Unto thy fulness, Lord, 
That so when time is past 
By grace I may at last 

Be with Thee, Lord !" 

— John Oxenham. 



CHAPTER IV. 



HAVE FAITH IN GOD. 

"Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees, 

And looks to that alone, 
Laughs at impossibilities. 

And cries, 'It shall be done/ 
Obedient faith that waits on Thee, 

Thou never wilt reprove. 
But Thou wilt form Thy Son in me, 

And perfect me in love." 

What is Faith ? Webster says : ''Belief, the assent 
of the mind to the truth of what is declared by 
another, resting solely and implicitly on his authority 
and veracity; reliance on testimony." 

This he gives as first of many definitions. Paul, 
the apostle, gives us another. He says : "Faith is the 
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things 
not seen." Not only to beheve in the reality of 
unseen things, but to have the evidence of their 
reality is a great privilege : and it is the privilege of 
every child of God who has implicit faith in Him. 
We may not understand all the whys and where- 
fores, why God seems to signally answer some 
prayers and leave others unanswered that seem to 
us more important and reasonable. 
(40) 



CONSECRATION 41 

Children sometimes cry for things which their 
parents, out of pure love for them, withhold. The 
parent sees that what the child so much desires 
would be harmful. The child cannot understand 
and thinks the parent is dealing hard with him. 

Our Heavenly Father has instructed us to come 
to Him with faith, and we are assured that if we 
ask anything according to His will, we shall receive 
the petition we desire of Him. We know that God 
answers prayer. 

Dr. Pierson says : 'T have made up my mind that 
there are some things in the mind of God that I 
cannot get into mine. Hence I do not attempt to 
reconcile the two revealed truths — that God is un- 
changeable and that prayer changes Him." 

Paul prayer for the removal of what he calls 
"the thorn in the flesh. The messenger of Satan 
to buffet him." He says : "For this thing I be- 
sought the Lord thrice that it might depart from 
me." Paul, evidently, was in the habit of praying 
with faith. He expected to ask and receive, and 
he puts it on record that he prayed three times for 
the same thing. How many times do we go to God 
with the same requests? We ask and receive not 
because we ask amiss; we do not ask in faith. 

Paul tells us he got an answer to his prayer. Not 
the answer he expected, but a better one. God 
said: "My grace is sufficient for thee." Paul was 
perfectly satisfied and said he would glory in his 
infirmities; that the power of Christ might rest 



42 CONSECRATION 

upon him. When the soul fully surrenders all to 
Christ, and with St. Paul accepts the thorn, and 
says, ''Give joy or grief; give ease or pain, then 
he can glory in infirmities and sing: 

"My Jesus as Thou wilt, tho' seen through many a tear, 
Let not my star of hope grow dim or disappear. 
Since Thou on earth hast wept, and sorrowed oft alone. 
If I must weep with Thee, my Lord, Thy will be done." 

A saintly man of God, leader of the Holiness 
Meeting at Ocean Grove, Dr. John Alday, used to 
say: ''Please do not sing it that way — If I must 
weep with Thee. Sing it. If I may weep with Thee. 
It is a blessed privilege to weep with Him." 

Mrs. Fletcher said: "I had the liberty this day 
to ask the Lord to show me the shortest and surest 
way to holiness. Many things were shown me, 
which I hope to put in practice, but, above all, it 
was impressed on my mind, live by faith." 

Yes, it is the shortest way, and the only way. 
The way to holiness is by faith in the power of the 
Holy Spirit to prepare the heart for its reception, 
and to apply the cleansing blood, which will wash 
not only every sin but every stain away. He is 
able to keep you from falling and present you fault- 
less before the presence of His glory with exceed- 
ing joy." 

I was once teaching a Bible class in the city of 
Philadelphia, Pa. The class had grown to a large 
size, so that I could not often see all present, indi- 
vidually; but as I talked to them I invited them to 
ask any questions relative to the lesson, or to make 



CONSECRATION 43 

any requests for help in their reHgious experience, 
or to ask for prayers for themselves or friends. 
They responded earnestly. Sometimes conversions 
occurred during our meetings, and they were often 
seasons of great interest and spiritual profit. 

On one occasion as I stood before the class talk- 
ing to them (the lesson was on the Crucifixion), I 
said something about the divinity of Christ. I can- 
not remember the thought that was in my heart or 
the words I used. Just then I heard a plaintive 
moan — ''Oh-o-o !" Thinking some one must be ill, 
I looked in the direction from whence I thought the 
sound proceeded, but was unable to discover any- 
thing unusual. I pursued my theme for the usual 
length of time, then closed the meeting. 

Early the next morning the door bell rang. It 
was raining very hard, and, to my surprise, a young 
lady entered. She was intelligent and dignified in 
her appearance, but looked sad. She asked: "Are 
you at liberty? Can I have an interview with you 
this morning?" 

I replied in the affirmative. She apologized for 
coming at that early hour and in the pouring rain, 
"but," she continued : 

"I felt that I must see you, and see you as soon 
as possible. I was in your Bible class yesterday, 
and you said something that hurt me terribly. I 
have not been able to rest or sleep since. I had 
no sleep last night." 



44 CONSECRATION 

I said : *'I beg pardon. I assure you it was unin- 
tentional. I never wish to hurt anybody. Tell me, 
please, what it is that grives you? What could I 
have said!" 

'T want to tell you all about it. That is why I 
am here this morning. I was in your class not 
because I was interested in Bible readings, but came 
out of curiosity. Students from the Medical Uni- 
versity and others were coming, and I accompanied 
them. I was not a believer in the divinity of Christ. 
I was taught to regard him as a perfect example of 
perfect manhood, but nothing more. I have always 
been anxious to have positive knowledge of the real 
truth. I have conversed with many eminent per- 
sons, Bishop Simpson, and others, but remained 
firmly rooted in the faith of my childhood. Parents, 
whom I devotedly loved, taught me that the story 
of the divinity of Jesus was a delusion. His pre- 
cepts and example were pure and beautiful, and all 
that could be of value or service to us. 

''You remember you were speaking of His death 
upon the cross. Though an old story, it was new 
yesterday. As you continued, I was deeply inter- 
ested, and soon mysteriously impressed (so it 
seemed to me) with the truth of Christ's divinity. 
Instantly I thought, Tf this is true I am undone. 
I have constantly and persistently denied and re- 
jected Him.' So deeply was I absorbed in the 
thought that I felt as if a sword had pierced my 
heart, and before realizing where I was, I made 
an exclamation and said 'Oh!' I was embarrassed 



CONSECRATION 45 

at the demonstration I had made, but could not 
help it. My heart still aches this morning, and I 
want you to tell me what I must do to get relief." 

''My dear friend," I said, "I am much interested 
in your case, and I sympathize with you deeply. 
But you must give your heart to Jesus, and give it 
to Him now." 

"But I cannot, because I have no faith. I want 
to give my heart to Him. Does not the Bible say 
we need not expect anything if we doubt in our 
hearts, and that we must believe in His atoning 
blood if we receive His favor?" 

"Yes, that is true." 
"Then how can I pray ?" 

"Ask Him to take away your unbelief." I was 
just about to propose prayer, when she said: 

"Can we not have prayer? You please pray for 
me here and now." 

We kneeled and I prayed. As I said the Amen, 
she broke into earnest supplication. She would im- 
portune with God for a few moments, then stop 
and cry : "Lord help my unbelief !" Finally she 
made a prayer of deep, searching consecration. "O, 
God, I give up all. First, I give up my unbelief. 

I believe Thou didst send Thy dear, divine Son 
into the world to make atonement for its sins — for 
my sin. I give Thee myself — body, soul and spirit. 
All I am, and all I hope to be. All I have, and all 
I hope to have, and I take Thee as my complete 
Savior from all my sins." 



46 CONSECRATION 

She stopped, and looking into my face, said: 

*'Is that right, Mrs. Wheeler?" 

"Yes," I replied, ''that is right." - 

"Then, dear Lord," she continued, "it's a bar- 
gain ! I am henceforth Thine, and Thou art mine ! 
O! It's a bargain! Ifs a bargain T 

Rising to her feet and clasping her hands, her 
face radiant with joy, she said : 

"I never was so happy in my life ! Glory to His 
name !" 

How quickly the work is done when perfect 
faith follows perfect consecration. She afterward 
married a clergyman; was faithful and active in 
Christian work for several years ; then God took her 
to her heavenly home. 

Our Heavenly Father not only answers the prayer 
of faith when we ask for pardon or purity, but He 
has assured us that He will supply all our needs. 
Jesus says : "Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, 
that will I do." How unlimited the promise! We 
need not be afraid to go to God for anything that 
will aid us in the promotion of His glory. "He 
that spared not His own Son, but freely delivered 
Him up for us all, shall He not with Him freely 
give us all things ?" He is a friend above all others, 
one that "sticketh closer than a brother." We can 
confide every thought, every desire, every joy, every 
sorrow, to the dear Savior. In whatever direction 
our needs may lie. He is able and willing to supply 
them. "Able to do exceeding abundantly above all 
we can ask or think." The answer may not come 



CONSECRATION 47 

as soon as we expect it, but if we hold on by faith, 
and patiently wait for the Lord, in His own good 
time, we shall hear him say: ''Be it unto Thee 
according to Thy word." 

Mr. George Cookman, father of Alfred Cook- 
man, once preached a missionary sermon in Wash- 
ington, D. C. He became very enthusiastic and 
urged the people to give liberally. He said : "I will 
set an example by giving all I have in the world." 

He then emptied his pocketbook, which contained 
seventeen dollars. The enthusiasm was contagious. 
The Holy Spirit rested upon the people, and they 
could hardly stop giving, and the collection reached 
an astonishing and unprecedented amount. Mr. 
Cookman went home and told his wife what he 
had done. 

''Oh!" she said, "George, you must have forgot- 
ten that there are six little ones asleep here to-night 
who to-morrow morning will be hungry and want 
their breakfast, and we will have no money, and 
there is no vituals in the cupboard." 

"Well, wife, I didn't think about that, but God 
told me to give that money. Never mind. I'll step 
up and talk with Him about it." He went to his 
room and she heard him earnestly praying. Soon 
he returned, and with face radiant with holy joy, 
said: 

"It's all right. To-morrow morning we'll have 
the best breakfast we have ever had since we en- 
tered the itinerancy." 



48 CONSECRATION 

"Yes ! but where is it coming from, George ?" 

"I don't know, but my Father does, and He is 
going to send it to us." 

He fell asleep, but Mrs. Cookman could not sleep. 
She kept thinking of the little hungry children that 
the morning would bring to the breakfast table. 

About 2 o'clock in the morning somebody was 
heard knocking at the door. 

"Mr. Cookman, what can that be?" inquired his 
wife. 

"That's our breakfast." Opening the window and 
looking out, he asked : 

"Who is there?" 

"I am," answered a voice. "I want you to come 
down and marry me at once." 

He went down, and there stood a magnificent- 
looking man, a Kentucky planter, who had come to 
Washington for a day. I need not take time to tell 
you the circumstances which brought him there 
on such an errand at such a time, but they were 
exceedingly interesting and beautiful. When the 
ceremony was over Mr. Cookman returned to his 
wife, and handing her a parcel, wrapped in a piece 
of paper, said: 

"Wife, I do not know what is in that, but I'll 
venture to say enough to get us as good a breakfast 
as I promised you." 

She opened it and found a clean, new, one-hun- 
dred-dollar bill. 



CONSECRATION 49 

(This incident was told me by Rev. William 
Cookman, son of Alfred, and grandson of George 
Cookman.) 

So many illustrations of answers to the prayers of 
faith come to mind that I hesitate as to which I 
should present. You will pardon me if I give a few 
that have come into my own heart and life. 

I was in attendance upon a missionary meeting 
held in one of our principal cities. During its 
progress the secretary arose and said that last week, 
while at the executive meeting, where all the appro- 
priations of the Society were made out for the year, 
she entirely forgot one that was very important — 
that of a young missionary, who was hard at work 
in a foreign field — a most devoted and successful 
worker; but the rooms were not large enough to 
accommodate the pupils, and they had not the 
necessary conveniences that would help greatly to 
ensure success to the school. The teacher had been 
promised three hundred dollars to aid in making the 
needed improvement. She was joyfully looking for- 
ward to the time when the school would receive the 
amount. 

''And now," said the secretary, "the meeting is 
closed, and nothing was done about it. But she, 
poor child, must have the money, and I cannot see 
how it is to be raised, for our appropriations this 
year far exceed anything we have ever made before, 
and we must work hard to meet them. What can 
we do about this, sisters? My heart is burdened. 



so CONSECRATION 

Will you not do your very best to awaken interest 
in this matter, and tell us when we meet again some- 
thing that will be encouraging?" 

The speaker was deeply moved, her eyes were 
moist with tears, and all who heard were greatly 
interested. 

I arose to endorse what had been said, and to 
further urge the ladies to do their utmost to secure 
the money; but as soon as I opened my mouth it 
seemed as if the Holy Spirit spoke through me. I 
did not say one word I had intended, but began to 
talk about faith. I said: 

"Let us have faith in God. We sing sometimes, 
'He holdeth the wealth of the world in His hands,' 
and it is true." The precious promises in God's 
word rolled in upon me like an avalanche. The 
Spirit brought them to my remembrance and I gave 
them out. I said: 

'Ts anything too hard for the Lord, or too small 
for Him to notice? The hairs of our heads are 
numbered 'He is able to make all grace abound 
towards us, that we, always having all sufficiency in 
all things, may abound to every good work.' Can 
anything be stronger or more assuring? Paul is 
speaking here, not of spiritual grace, but of financial 
grace. Whatsoever things we desire, when we pray 
let us believe that we receive them, and we shall 
have them. Let us go to God with faith in our 
hearts; nothing doubting, and ask Him for this 
money. 'Now, therefore,' let us 'perform the doing 
of it.' " 



CONSECRATION 51 

As I took my seat I thought, ''What kind of a 
speech did you make ? Surely not a thoughtful one. 
The secretary spoke so earnestly, and with so much 
feeling, and laid it on the hearts of the people, and 
you have said : 

"It's an easy matter. Nothing is too hard for 
the Lord. Just ask God and He will send it." 

I was embarrassed, but said nothing of what was 
passing within. As soon as I reached my home I 
went to my room and kneeled in prayer, and said: 
''My dear Lord, pardon me if I made a mistake, 
but if, as I thought, the words and promises were 
brought to my mind by the Holy Spirit, let me see 
the answer to our faith. Give me the assurance 
that it was according to Thy will and word." 

A few days after I received a letter from a con- 
secrated Christian lady, living in a distant city, 
hundreds of miles away from us, asking me if I 
could use three hundred dollars advantageously in 
some special missionary work? She said: "I do 
not mean to have it entered with my yearly amount. 
This I want to be extra. I expect to give my an- 
nual subscription just the same." 

I answered telling her about the young mission- 
ary, and the conversation that followed. The next 
letter brought the three hundred dollars. She said 
she knew nothing of our meeting that day, or of any 
unusual need for money, but, while praying, felt 
that she ought to send me three hundred dollars for 
special missionary work. Then she thought Mrs. 
W. does not receive money. She is president. I 



52 CONSECRATION 

must send it to the treasurer of the Society. But 
no ! something seemed to whisper, ''Send it to Mrs. 
W. It will be all right. She will know about it." 
I took the money to the next meeting, read the 
letter, and together we arose and sang the Dox- 
ology. It made a profound impression and many 
eyes glistened with tears of gratitude and praise. 

On another occasion we were holding a prayer 
service in the Tabernacle at Ocean Grove. Those 
who wished to do so were invited to ask prayers 
for themselves or friends. Prayers for multitudes 
of persons were solicited, for fathers and mothers, 
brothers and sisters, children and neighbors and 
friends. The last request was for a man in Canada, 
a drunkard, degraded, debauched continually, and 
leading others down to degradation and ruin. 

We said : 'This would seem a hopeless case. A 
man away over in Canada, separated from all re- 
ligious influence, sunk deep in the mire of drunken- 
ness and sin. Again we ask, Ts there anything too 
hard for the Lord?' There are no impossible cases 
with God. God can reach that man just as easily 
in Canada as if he were here. Some one says: 
'He is not sober long enough to get converted.^ 
God can sober him. Let our prayers be of faith — 
faith at least in the work of the Holy Spirit — to 
convert him and show him his need of a Savior.' " 

The brethen prayed, one after the other, with 
wondrous power. A few days after word came to 
us from Canada that the man had stopped drinking, 
and we were requested to continue our prayers in 



CONSECRATION 53 

his behalf. Soon a reliable Christian evangelist 
came into our meeting and desired to inform us con- 
cerning the man for whom prayer had been offered. 
He said : 

''He is gloriously converted, and also the three 
men who were his constant companions. They are 
working together for Jesus now, and are having a 
great influence among the class of people who have 
known them, many of whom they have rescued, 
and brought to Christ. About the time we were 
praying for him, he, without knowing what was 
being done in the meeting, went to the saloon with 
his friends, but could not drink. They filled the 
cup and put it to his lips, saying, 'Take it. It is paid 
for.' But he said: T do not want the drink. I 
cannot take it. The appetite for it is gone.' It was 
no spasmodic work. Years have passed and he is 
still faithfully laboring for the salvation of souls." 

In the same prayer service in which prayer was 
asked for the man in Canada, a mother arose and 
said: "Pray for my son! Pray that he may be 
saved, and that I may know where he is." 

A short time after, the leader of the meeting met 
her so filled with joy that she could hardly speak. 
She held a Bible in her hand. "See, Doctor!" she 
cried, "how quickly God has answered your prayers. 
This letter is from my son telling of his conversion 
to Christ, and he has also sent me this Bible. Just 
look at the handwriting." On the fly-leaf he had 
written : "From your converted son to the sweetest 
and dearest mother in the world." 



54 CONSECRATION 

I was once on my way to Germantown to hear 
Mr. Moody speak. He came to me in the rail- 
way car and, handing me a letter, said: "I would 
like to have you read this. It is from one of my 
boys. When you have read it I will tell you about 
it, and I think you will say that it pays to have faith 
in God." 

He said this boy's mother — a widow — came to 
him almost broken-hearted, weeping bitterly, asking 
him to pray for her only child. He had left his 
home and gone away, she knew not where. Mr. 
Moody said: ''That evening I told the audience 
about it, and said : 'I am now going to ask God to 
reach him,' and while I pray I wish you all to bow 
your heads and join me in the prayer." Some weeks 
after, Mr. Moody was holding meetings in another 
city. The young lad was passing and was attracted 
by the singing. He went in, and was the first to 
accept Christ when the opportunity was given. He 
left the city, but wrote this letter to Mr. Moody, 
telling him of the great peace and comfort he had 
found, and expressing an ardent desire to find his 
mother (she had changed her place of residence), 
so that he might tell her of the change that had 
come into his life. 

Mr. Moody was delighted to find that he was 
indeed the lost boy and that God was restoring him 
to his mother. He said: 'T finished reading the 
letter, and I thought as soon as I get home from 
the meeting tonight I will write his mother all 
about it, and what joy it will bring to her heart. 



CONSECRATION 55 

But after the day's work was done I was exceed- 
ingly weary, and I retired, thinking that I needed 
rest, and would write it early the next morning. 
But I could not rest. I kept thinking of the mother, 
and I arose, took up my pen, and said to myself, 
'I will make one more heart glad before I sleep.' " 
The letter was sent that night. The mother was on 
her death-bed. Mr. Moody did not know of her 
illness. She read the letter, and died rejoicing in 
the Lord. 

The witness of the Spirit to entire santification 
can never be obtained without faith. Perfect con- 
secration and perfect faith brings perfect love. 
Some wish to test the matter first before they are 
ready to believe. They say: 'T will believe I am 
santified if I keep peaceful and serene, and have the 
joy of the Lord filling my heart. But I am afraid 
the sweet peace will leave me when I get out of this 
atmosphere, away from the influence of these holy 
people who, by their joyful and definite testimonies, 
increase my weak faith." Or, 'T am afraid I may 
lose my temper when the hour of trial comes, I 
have so many things to contend with. If it carries 
me safely through all this, then I'll believe that the 
work is done." 

'Tis said two men were lost in a western blizzard. 
They had to cross a river a mile wide. They were 
afraid. They got a stick, and reached out and tried 
it with that, then stepped thus far; then again 
measuring and testing they advanced the length of 
the stick, until nearly perishing with cold, stiff, 



56 CONSECRATION 

benumbed, they had got half way over, when along 
came an omnibus loaded with passengers, drawn 
by two horses. So, some go along over the path in 
this way, fearing, trembling, hesitating, halting, 
ever and anon, because they do not fully trust God's 
promises. Out in the cold, when the might be warm 
and glad — ''Standing on the promises." 

John Wesley said: ''I believe this perfection is 
always wrought in the soul by a simple act of faith; 
consequently, in an instant. Look for it every day, 
every hour, every moment. Why not this hour — 
this moment? By this token you may surely know 
whether you seek it by faith or by works. If by 
works, you want something to be done first before 
you are sanctified. If you seek it by faith, you ex- 
pect it as you are; and if as you are, then expect it 
now. It is important to observe that there is an 
inseparable connection between these three points — 
expect it by faith, expect it as you are, and expect 
it now." 

Bishop Foster, in his work on Christian Purity, 
says : "The life of holiness is eminently a life of 
faith. We have before said it is attained by faith ; 
we now say it cannot continue a moment without 
faith; faith is its very root and sap. The same 
faith which at first introduced the principle pre- 
serves it. But we are not, therefore, to suppose 
the soul must always be in painful endeavor. Faith 
in the heart of a Christian, operates when he does 
not think of it, produces fruits without his con- 
sciousness. It is obvious that holiness can only 



CONSECRATION 57 

co-exist with faith. Would you retain the state? 
Maintain with vital principle; watch against every 
tincture of unbelief, every approach of infidelity; 
let the life you live be by the faith of the Son of 
God." 

Bishop Cyrus D. Foss experienced the blessing 
of purity very early in his ministerial life. Writ- 
ing to his spiritual mentor, Albert S. Hunt, he says : 
"I received the assurance of this special blessing by 
faith. I went to the camp-meeting (Sing Sing) with 
an honest desire to get more religion. After two 
or three hours' struggle to overcome my own heart, 
and by the help of God to bring it all down to the 
foot of the Cross, I was enabled to make a full 
surrender. By faith I saw my poor, yet entire, 
oifering accepted, and by faith I received the assur- 
ance that my Father, of Whom I asked bread, did 
not give me a stone. Not immediately, but after a 
little time, my soul was filled with joy, and for two 
hours I sat and laughed for gladness of heart. 
Never before did I rejoice in such an assurance of 
His presence and astounding love. The simple 
truth was, my heart was cleansed from all un- 
righteousness and filled with pure, boundless love. 
I believed this then; I have believed it ever since, 
and I believe it now. Oh ! what an indescribable 
peace has dwelt in my heart almost without an 
hour's interruption from that day to this. 

''About subtle mental analysis and nice distinc- 
tions I do not trouble myself at all. I am entirely 



58 CONSECRATION 

the Lord's and He is mine clear up to the maximum 
of my present need. I beHeve that and everything 
it implies with all my heart." 

No wonder that the Bishop's mouth was filled 
with laughter, with his heart overflowing with a 
sense of God's ''astounding love.'' He dwelt in an 
atmosphere of love all the remainder of his life. 
And when his earthly life was ended, and he lay 
sleeping in his casket, among those who gathered 
round it to speak to the living their words of love 
concerning him, was Bishop W. F. McDowell. He 
said : 

"Bishop Foss is the only bishop living or dead 
who ever came to me with no other errand what- 
ever but for the sole purpose of telling me that he 
loved me. Nearly ten years ago, when I was a 
secretary, this man came to my office, and this is 
what he said : 'One of my friends has slipped away 
within a week. I have loved him for thirty years 
or more, and never said so to him. I think he knew 
it, but he ought to have heard it from me. I shall 
be gone in a short time, no one knows when, and 
I am going round this morning to tell a half dozen 
men (at least three are in this building), you among 
them, that I love them. I want you to know it from 
my own lips.' 

"That kind of thing is easy to men of a certain 
type. It was not easy to this man. That he said 
it, with a kind of overwhelming tenderness, to one 
very much his junior, has made life rich with a 



CONSECRATION 59 

kind of imperishable riches." The promise is true — 
"Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost 
has come upon you." 

Again Bishop Foster says: "Holiness is power! 
And when Christians, endowed with this power — 
purity — meet in prayer, the very atmosphere may 
be so pervaded by a supernatural Presence that 
men's consciousness shall recognize it on the in- 
stant, and they shall be constrained to say, Xo, God 
is here !' " 

We have witnessed demonstrations of this kind. 
One in 1874 at the great international camp-meeting 
held at Round Lake. One morning an unusually 
interesting love feast was held before the stand. 
Bishops Kavanaugh and Daggett, of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South, and Bishops Janes and 
Foster, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, were 
present and spoke; also representatives from Can- 
ada, Europe, Asia, AustraHa, and other parts of the 
world. It was a glorious meeting. The power of 
God was manifested in a wonderful manner. 

Toward the close a group of missionaries about 
to sail for their various fields of labor, were called, 
and each spoke a few words. The meeting con- 
tinued to grow in interest, and as these seven or 
eight persons gave their testimonies it reached a 
climax. The power of the Most High overshadowed 
the audience. The people seemed electrified. The 
clergymen on the platform sprang to their feet, and 
with tears in their eyes, and hallelulias on their lips, 



60 CONSECRATION 

clasped each other by the hand and pledged them- 
selves to meet again on the heights of immortality. 
They sang: 

"Our hearts by love together knit, 
Cemented mixed in one." 

The benediction was pronounced, and the meeting 
declared closed, but of the thousands assembled 
there, but few moved from their seats. They all 
with one accord began to sing the hymn ending 
with the chorus: 

"Pure robes, white robes, 
Washed in the blood of the Lamb." 

The baptism of power fell upon the people. The 
scene was indescribable. There was no confusion — 
no noise save the singing — but there was a sound 
within a sound. A joy unutterable filled their hearts, 
and the light of heaven shone upon their faces as 
they sang over and over again the words of the 
chorus. 

As the singing ceased, Dr. Deems, of the "Church 
of the Strangers," of New York City, attempted 
to describe his feelings as he drew near the altar 
and heard the singing, saying that he never ex- 
pected to hear the like until he heard the songs of 
the redeemed in Heaven. In his own inimitable style 
he added: 

"O ! paid choirs ! O ! operas ! O ! Jenny Linds ! 
O ! all the rest of you ! what is your singing com- 
pared with that of these, who sing with the Spirit 
of Christ burning within their souls, and the joy 



CONSECRATION 61 

of the Lord welling up from the fountain of their 
hearts?" One of our Bishops said he thought that 
the Church of Christ had never before received such 
a baptism of the Holy Ghost since the days of Pen- 
tecost. 

One has thoughtfully said : "When the mind, like 
a pure, calm lake, reflects back the light which is 
shed from heaven, the image of God is upon it, 
commensurate with its capacity, for the tiniest drop 
of dew images for the truth, though not the full 
radiance of the sun." 

''There is dew in one flower and not in another, 
because one opens its cup and takes it in, while the 
other closes itself and the drop runs off. So God 
rains goodness and mercy as wide as the dew; and 
if we lack them, it is because we will not open our 
hearts to receive them." 

At the same Round Lake, of which we have 
spoken, another camp-meeting was held. There had 
been very little rain for some time, and everything 
seemed dusty, dry and withering. Amanda Smith, 
the colored woman, who has a world-wide reputa- 
tion for her singing, and evangelistic work, came 
to the meeting. The subject presented by the 
preacher that day was Faith, and after the sermon 
Amanda was called on to speak. She is very dark, 
and I had never seen her before, and I wondered 
what she would say. But she made an impression 
on my mind that remains to-day. She said : 

"I was coming along the road this morning, and 
everything seemed so dry and dusty, and I saw z, 



62 CONSECRATION 

clump of grass near the side of the road. It looked 
as if it was most dead, it was so dried up. But I 
noticed just over the top a spider had woven its 
web during the night, and the dew had fallen on 
it, and the pure drops sparkled in the sunlight like 
so many diamonds ; and I said, 'You poor, dried up, 
withered, and thirsty grass! How you do want a 
drink ! How you do want the dew drops ! And you 
cannot get them. Why? Because of that hateful 
cobweb that your enemy has woven to keep the 
drink away from you.' But I took my parasol and 
poked the cobweb off, and down fell the refreshing 
drops. The grass drank it in, straightened up, and 
shook its thankfulness. 

"And now, beloved, what's the matter with you 
this morning? You want the blessing, and it is 
near you. The sparkling drops from the waters of 
life are shining above your heads, but the enemy 
has woven the web of unbelief between your souls 
and it. Oh, reach out the hand of faith, and brush 
the cobweb of unbelief away, and down will fall 
the honey drops of God's everlasting love, and how 
your poor thirsty souls will be refreshed, and you 
will take on new life, and grow in the nurture and 
admonition of the Lord." 

We believe in what is commonly called special 
providences. Thousands of prayers are daily as- 
cending to God for blessings of numerous kinds, for 
supplying our various needs, for preservation from 
critical illness, for protection in danger, and we 
must have faith if we prevail with God, and thus 



CONSECRATION 63 

secure the answer to our prayers. We will end this 
talk of faith by giving two illustrations of prevail- 
ing prayer, by two eminent men of God. First, 
John Wesley, and last, D. L. Moody. 

The following instance is given by Dr. Adam 
Clarke : John Wesley, with some of his co-workers, 
had been laboring in the Norman Islands, and had 
appointed a day to be at Bristol. Taking passage 
with Dr. Clarke, Dr. Coke and Joseph Bradford, in 
an English brig, which had touched at Guersey on 
its voyage from France, they left Guersey with a 
fine, fair breeze, and every prospect of making a 
quick passage. In a short time the wind died away, 
and a contrary wind arose and blew with great 
force. 

Mr. Wesley was in the cabin, reading, and hear- 
ing the bustle on deck, occasioned by putting the 
vessel about, he put his head above deck and in- 
quired the cause. Being told that the wind was 
contrary and they were obliged to tack ship, he 
said : "Let us go to prayer!' At his request, Coke, 
Clarke, and Bradford prayed. As they concluded 
Mr. Wesley broke out into fervent supplication, 
which seemed to be more the offspring of strong 
faith than mere desire. He said: 

''Almighty and everlasting God, Thou hast Thy 
say everywhere, and all things serve the purposes 
of Thy will; Thou boldest the winds in Thy fists, 
and sittest upon the water-floods and reignest a 
king forever — command these winds and these 
waves that they obey Thee! and take us speedily 



64 CONSECRATION 

and safely to the haven where we would be." The 
power of his petition was felt by all. He rose from 
his knees, made no kind of remark, but took up his 
book and continued his reading. Dr. Clarke went 
on deck, and, to his surprise, found the vessel stand- 
ing on her course with a steady breeze, which did 
not abate, but carried them at the rate of nine or 
ten miles an hour, until they were safely anchored 
at their desired port. 

J\Ir. Wesley made no remark on the sudden 
change of the wind. "So fully," said Dr. Clarke, 
''did he expect to be heard that he took it for 
granted he ivas heard. Such answers to prayer he 
was in the habit of receiving and therefore to him 
the occurrence was not strange." 

Now, we will give D. L. Moody's account of 
his experience in prevailing prayer. ''He, with 
others on the disabled steamer Spree, believe that 
the vessel was providentially saved in answer to 
prayer. In the midst of a severe storm, on Novem- 
ber 27, 1892, the main shaft broke and plunged 
through the bottom of the ship. The water-logged 
vessel rolled fearfully, and the decks were washed 
by the waves. The passengers became greatly 
alarmed, the indications being that the vessel would 
sink before help could reach it. On Sunday, at 
Mr. Moody's suggestion, a prayer service was or- 
ganized. Every person on board attended, except 
the officers and crew who could not leave their 
posts." General O. O. Howard, who was one of 
the passengers, says : 



CONSECRATION 6B 

''It was the most impressive religious gathering 
any of us ever attended. Jews, CathoHcs, and all 
others forgot differences in creeds and denomina- 
tions. There was no room for them in such an 
hour. Mr. Moody read the ninety-first and one 
hundred and seventh Psalm, which one of the Ger- 
mans translated verse by verse for his countrymen. 

"Mr. Moody offered a most fervent prayer, and 
made a short address. God heard us and answered 
us, I went to my stateroom to rest after the meet- 
ing, and I was asleep when some one touched me. 
I awoke to find a sweet, fond little German girl, the 
daughter of one of the passengers, by my cot. She 
could not understand a word of English, but my 
daughter had drilled her to speak four English 
words, which was the message she brought me, 
'The steamer is coming,' and then she added her 
German 'hallelujah.' " 

Mr. Moody says of the rescue: "There never was 
a more earnest prayer to God than that of those 
seven hundred souls on that helpless, almost sinking 
ship in midocean, when we met in the saloon to 
implore God's help ; and God answered us, as I 
knew he would. He sent us a rescuing ship, and he 
calmed the sea so that for a week it was so smooth 
as it is in this harbor, though there were storms all 
around us. It was the grandest test of prayer I 
ever knew. 

"My son was with me. Some of his honored 
friends had instilled in him some doubts about 
God's direct interference in answer to prayer. After 



(£ CONSECRATION 

we had prayed that Sunday night, I had reached a 
point where I cared not whether it was God's will 
that we should go up or down. I was determined 
to go to rest as though we were sailing safely on 
our way. My boy couldn't rest. We were fast 
drifting out of the track of vessels, and our peril 
was extreme. About 2.15 A. M. he came and woke 
me, telling me to come on deck. There he pointed 
out an occasional glimpse of a tiny light that 
showed over the waves as our ship rolled heavily 
from side to side. 'It is the star of Bethlehem/ he 
cried, 'and our prayers are answered!' 

"Before daylight the Huron, whose masthead it 
was, had reached us, and the waves were stilled and 
the winds were hushed by God's command, while 
we were drawn out of the direst peril to this safe 
haven." 

Let us have faith in God ! 



CHAPTER V. 

THE JOY OF THE LORD. 

"O blessed work for Jesus ! 

O rest at Jesus' feet ! 
There toil seem pleasure, 
My wants are treasure, 

And pain for Him is sweet. 
Lord, if I may, 

I'll serve another day !" 

The joy of the Lord is your strength. We need 
strength for warfare, for ''We must fight if we 
would reign." We have gotten rid of foes within 
(imbred sin) that used to trouble us, but foes with- 
out, lie in wait to overcome us if possible, and we 
must needs watch and pray. We wrestle not with 
flesh blood, but against principalities, against pow- 
ers, against spiritual wickedness, in high places." 

We are always victorious when we are joyful in 
the Lord, and lift our hearts to Him in praise. The 
Psalmist says : "1 will bless the Lord at all times : 
His praise shall continually be in my mouth." Not 
only in my heart, but in my mouth; then others will 
hear our praises, and perhaps be led to seek the 
same source of joy. 

(67) 



68 CONSECRATION 

Harriet Beecher Stowe says : "It may be set down 
as an axiom that people feel the need of amuse- 
ments less and less, precisely in proportion as they 
have solid reasons for being happy." 

Joyfulness always accompanies victory, and de- 
feat is impossible so long as we move forward. 
When Darius proposed to Alexander that they 
should divide the world between them, he repHed 
that there was room only for one sun in our 
heavens. So when God fills the heart there is no 
room for anything else. As we can have no sub- 
stitute for the sun, we can have none for the work 
of the Holy Spirit; the entrance of which alone 
can illuminate and satisfy the soul. Take holiness 
into your bosoms, and grief, and sorrow, and sin, 
will flee from them. You will find rest, sweet, deep 
and lasting. Are we not told that ''The ransomed 
of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with 
songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads; they 
shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sigh- 
ing shall flee away." 

The spirit of praise means victory over all our 
foes — real or imaginary. We cannot retain ill-will 
even to those who try to injure us while we are 
praising God. Over, and over again, we are ex- 
horted to lay aside all care, and anxiety, all sorrow 
and fear. We are to cast our burden upon the 
Lord ; being assured that he careth for us, and will 
supply all our needs; not all our desires, perhaps, 
but if we go forth in the path of duty, rejoicing in 
the Lord, and doing the best we can, we will find 



CONSECRATION 69 

the promise true that all things work together for 
good to those who love God, and love Him su- 
premely. 

No matter how forbidding circumstances may 
seem to be, God's grace will never fail us. We are 
to count it all joy when we fall into diverse tempta- 
tions, for "the trial of our faith is more precious 
than gold." We are not to be distressed or to 
think it strange concerning fiery trials that may 
come to us. The trials we sometimes fear the 
most are often blessings in disguise, and work for 
us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
glory. How constantly the dear Lord encouraged 
His disciples : ''Let not your hearts be troubled. 
Ye believe in God, believe also in Me. I go to 
prepare a place for you." Blessed Savior! What 
more could He have said, or done, to make us trust 
Him perfectly, and give us perfect peace? 

Spurgeon says : "A child of God should be a 
visible beatitude for joy and happiness, and a living 
doxology for gratitude and adoration." 

Madam Guyon, shut within her gloomy prison, 
without any earthly comfort or hope, rejoices with 
joy unspeakable and full of glory. She says : 

"The joy of my heart gave brightness to the 
objects around me. The stones of my prison looked 
in my eyes like rubies, and the manacles on my 
arms like diamonds." 

Her triumphant and contented heart found ex- 
pression often in the hymns she wrote and sang. 



70 CONSECRATION 

We give but one stanza of her many joyful songs: 

"Naught have I else to do — 

I sing the whole day long; 
And He whom most I love to please 

Doth listen to my song; 
He caught and bound my wandering wing, 

But still He bends to hear me sing." 

Yes, God bows his ear well pleased to listen to our 
songs of praise. 

Some years ago I had been leading a Mothers' 
Meeting at Ocean Grove, N. J. At its close a lady 
asked: "Can I have an interview with you for a 
short time?" 

I said, ''Yes." 

Taking a seat beside me she looked into my face, 
her eyes wet with tears, and said: 

"Have you anything for a broken heart? My 
heart is broken." Then she told me of her joyful 
and prosperous life with her husband and children ; 
of the change that came to her as death entered 
her home and took her noble husband and beautiful 
daughter and also her only son. Soon her home and 
fortune were swept away, and said she: "You see, 
I have nothing to live for." 

I listened with interest. She was unusually intel- 
ligent, beautiful and refined. One person speaking 
of her said: "Her face looks like the face of the 
Madonna." 

I said : "My sister, you have passed through fiery 
trials, but do not be discouraged. God loves you, 



CONSECRATION 71 

and sympathizes with you. You have told me that 
you were all Christians, and lived as near to God as 
you knew how. Our highest ambition for our loved 
ones is that they may reach heaven as their final 
home. Your dear ones have reached their home 
sooner than you desired, but God will restore them 
to you, for 

" *We shall gather home at last, 
And we'll hold our jewels fast 
In the Kingdom.' 

Do not, dear sister, sadden your heart by lingering 
about their tombs. If you listen you may hear the 
angels whisper, 'They are not here. They have 
arisen!' Go tell the story of redemption to those 
who know it not. Seek out some one who has 
deep sorrow with no one to care for, or to sym- 
pathize with them, and ministering to others will 
bring relief to your own heart." 

*'0h!" she said, 'T am so sad. When I arise in 
the morning the earth seems shrouded in gloom. 
No person in the Grove can be more unhappy than 
I. Tell me what to do. I must find relief." 

"Well," I said, "when you first arise in the morn- 
ing sing the doxology — 'Praise God from whom all 
blessings flow.' " 

*T would like to sing it," she said, "but I do not 
feel like it. How can I when I am so sad?" 

"I know singing and sadness do not harmonize 
very well. We sometimes sing when our hearts 
are sad, but we are apt to sing in mournful numbers. 



n CONSECRATION 

We do not sing praises. The Psalmist says : 'I will 
sing; yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord. In 
the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pair- 
lion.' Never mind about the feeling. Do not trust 
the sweetest frame of mind, but trust Jesus, and 
praise God." 

A few years after, while seated in the Audi- 
torium, a lady came up behind me and, greeting 
me most affectionately, said : ''You do not know me. 
Do you remember, once upon a time, a woman in 
deep distress asked for an interview and inquired 
if you had anything for a broken heart?" 

'*Oh, yes," I replied, 'T remember that very well." 

"I am that person," she said. "Your receipt 
lifted me out of my gloom, and set me to work for 
Jesus. The more I learned of God, of His holiness 
and purity, the more I felt my need of being 
cleansed from inbred sin. I resolved to consecrate 
myself anew, and I laid all upon the altar and ear- 
nestly prayed: 'Take me, dear Lord, cleanse me 
from all sin, and make my heart whiter than snow.' 
God heard my prayer, and gave me complete deliver- 
ance from remaining corruption. When purified, 
He filled me with Pentecostal power. My soul is 
continually filled with light and love and joy; and 
now I think the Grove does not contain a happier 
woman than L" 

A man saw another's windmill with the inscrip- 
tion ''God is love" upon it. 



CONSECRATION 72, 

''Is your God's love as fickle as the wind?" he 
asked, "changing with every wind that blows?" 

"No !" was the reply. "But my God is love 
whichever way the wind blows." 

We cannot be joyful in the Lord until we "know 
the love of Christ." We must have Christ dwelling 
in us by faith, "being rooted and grounded in love." 
Then we shall not only believe that God is love, 
but we shall know it, and how blessed it is to know 
the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. But 
you ask, "How can we know that which passeth 
knowledge?" Dr. Adam Clarke says in his Com- 
mentary : 

"When the Apostle prayed that they may know 
the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, he 
may refer to all the boasted knowledge of the 
Jewish doctors, and to all the greatly extolled sci- 
ence of the Greek philosophers. To know the love 
of Christ, infinitely surpasses all other science. This 
gives a clear and satisfactory sense." 

God is love, and to be happy — to have a joy un- 
speakable in our hearts — we must not only believe 
this truth, but we must knoiv it — know it beyond 
the possibility of a doubt. Joy shows faith ; melan- 
choly shows unbeHef. The fruit of the spirit is joy. 
"Rejoice in the Lord always — and again, I say 
rejoice." One happy Christian will win more souls 
to Christ than a half dozen melancholy ones. No 
matter how pure and spotless the life may be, with- 
out joy it is powerless. "An ounce of cheerfulness 
is worth a pound of sadness to serve God with." 



74 CONSECRATION 

Fuller says: 

"The ministrations of sorrow may be accounted 
providential. The sombre-faced angel has doubt- 
less a divine mission. An experience of sorrow 
tends to soften and deepen one's nature. Still is 
it not true that those bright-faced angels who drink 
ever at the fountain of perennial joy are the angels 
which excel in strength? A joyful soul works to 
a far better advantage than a discontented and 
gloomy spirit. A person soured is in no working 
condition or mood. Such a person needs to be 
bom again — born into a better temper of mind, 
and baptized with the oil of joy, when, with a 
happy heart, he can take up the thread of duty and 
hopefully labor for the incoming of a better day. 
A sorrowful face and a dolorous tone will never 
win the world to Christ. They do not properly 
advertise that religion whose substance is love, and 
whose keynote is joy. "Therefore with joy shall 
ye draw water out of the wells of salvation." The 
primary elements of the kingdom of God are right- 
eousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." 

On one occasion a series of meetings was held 
in a church near me. Much interest was awakened, 
and many were converted. I became very much 
interested in a person living in the town. She was 
a lady of means, beautiful, intelligent and cultured. 
She was fond of art, and this brought us often 
together. We called on each other to see each 
other's art works, and to discuss anything new on 
the subject that we met with. I knew she was a 



CONSECRATION 75 

member of a Christian church, but she did not 
seem to have much interest in the subject of re- 
ligion. She was benevolent, attended her church 
each Sabbath, and this seemed to be about the 
beginning and end of her Christian work. I thought 
if she were baptized with the Spirit, what an influ- 
ence she might have among those who loved and 
honored her. She was a leader in the social circle. 

As the meeting progressed, a union testimony 
meeting was called to meet in the church one after- 
noon. I invited her to attend. She accepted the 
invitation. The meeting was largely attended. The 
various Christian churches were well represented. 
It was from beginning to end full of interest and 
spiritual power. Many glowing testimonies were 
given; and the shining faces told plainly of the 
well-spring of joy in the hearts of those who 
spoke. 

As she came out I met her, and asked: ''How 
did you enjoy the meeting, Mrs. H. ?" 

''How did I enjoy it, did you ask? I cannot say 
that I enjoyed it at all. I never was in such a 
meeting before, and never heard people speak as 
they did. Why, those people spoke as if they knew 
that God loved them, and that they were heirs of 
Heaven. And you spoke in the same manner. I 
was more surprised than pleased." 

"Why were you not pleased to hear them say 
they had the assurance that God loved them?" 



Id CONSECRATION 

"Because I never heard of anything Hke it be- 
fore. I have great reverence for God. I say to 
myself many times, This azvful God is ours.' I 
think of His awful power. He can create, and He 
can destroy, but to think of Him as a God of love, 
I never could, and I never did, in my life." 

"Well, my friend," I said, "it is your privilege 
to feel it, and to know it — to know the love of 
God — and to know that He loves you." 

"Do you think so?" she inquired, eagerly. 

"Yes, my dear friend, I know it. God is no 
respecter of persons, and 'He is able to do exceed- 
ing abundantly above all you can ask or think.' 
He is able to fill your heart so full of His love that 
your joy will be unspeakable." 

We parted. After reaching home, I prayed ear- 
nestly that God would reveal Himself to her, and 
give her the assurance of His love for her. I 
wanted to call and talk with her on the subject. 
So I went one morning with Ruskin's work on Art, 
as an excuse for calling at that time. She came to 
me, took me by the hand. Then left me, drew 
back, sank into a chair, and burst into tears. 

Thinking I had happened to come in an unfavor- 
able time, when, perhaps, she was having some 
unusual heart trouble, I began to excuse myself, 
I arose to go; and said I would call some other 
time. But she quickly grasped my hand and said: 

"No ! You must not go. You must stay. I 
want to see you now. I have been praying all night 



CONSECRATION 77 

that God would give me strength to go to you, and 
he has answered my prayer by sending you to me." 

She then opened her heart to me, and told me 
she must have the blessing. We talked and prayed 
together. When I left her she said : 

"I must have relief. If I feel no better in the 
morning I will send my carriage to you for you 
to go sketching with me. You will know what it 
means. Please leave all, and come." 

Early in the morning the carriage was at the 
door. I got in, and she joined me at her home. 
We did sketch a little, but we talked much about 
Jesus, and His power and willingness to save to 
the uttermost; but she did not receive Christ by 
faith. She said: 

"I think I cannot receive it as many do. I have 
read and reasoned much about these matters, and it 
seems to me that I will have to reason my way into 
the m.ystery of Godliness. I'll have to reason my 
way out of this darkness." 

I said: "My dear sister, you can never reason 
your way to Christ. It is not contrary to reason, 
but it is above and beyond all human reason and 
comprehension how God could 'be just, and the 
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.' You 
must lay all your reasoning and wisdom at His 
feet, and receive Him as a little child." 

Just before we parted she said : ''My husband has 
noticed my sadness, and though himself an unbe- 
liever, he wants me to be happy, and he has planned 



78 CONSECRATION 

a visit to Washington, D. C. We start to-morrow 
morning, and that means that we are to go into 
very gay society. I do not want to go, but I can- 
not disappoint my husband, for he is doing it, as 
he thinks, for my good. What can I do? I am 
so distressed." 

I repHed : ''Open your heart just now. Enthrone 
Jesus, and you will not have to go." 

She replied: ''Oh, that I could! Lord help my 
unbelief !" 

We separated. She spent the night in the same 
frame of mind. In the morning they started for 
Washington. It was raining. Dark clouds were 
in the sky; "but," she said, "it did not compare 
with the darkness that enshrouded my mind. The 
burden that rested upon me seemed unendurable. 
Just then the sunlight burst through the dark 
clouds, gilding them with glory, and I thought : 

" 'Oh, how beautiful ! That would be lovely on 
canvas. If it would only remain long enough I 
would like to paint it, but God paints better than 
any earthly artist. He does not forget even the 
little violet or lily of the valley. He touches them 
and they spring forth to brighten the earth. Why 
does He do it ? It must be love that prompts Him.' 

"I closed my eyes, and clasping my hands, I Hfted 
my heart, and said quietly: 'O God, I doubt no 
longer. I know Thou art love." Instantly my soul 
was flooded with Divine light. Radiant light from 
above seemed to fill the whole car. I looked up 



CONSECRATION 79 

to see what had happened. I thought the ventilators 
had been opened, for the light was streaming in 
from some source. My husband said : 

'' 'What's the matter, dear ?' 

"I said : 

" 'Oh, Theodore, God is love !' 

" 'But, my dear, we are in the car now. Please 
say nothing about it here.' 

"I can't help it, Theodore. God is love. Halle- 
lujah!" 

Her experience reminded me of that of Mrs. 
Jonathan Edwards, wife of one of the most emi- 
nent Presbyterian ministers of his day. He was at 
one time president of Princeton College. She had 
a remarkable experience of the deep things of God. 

In the year 1742 she sought and found what she 
called "the full assurance of faith." In relating 
her experience, she said: 

"I cannot find language to express how certain 
the everlasting love of God appeared. Mountains 
and hills were but shadows to it. My safety and 
happiness, and eternal enjoyment of God's immu- 
table love, seemed as durable and unchanging as 
God Himself. Melted and overcome by the sweet- 
ness of this assurance, I fell into a great flow of 
tears, and could not forbear weeping aloud. The 
presence of God was so near, and so real, that I 
seemed scarcely conscious of anything else. 



80 CONSECRATION 

"At night my soul seemed to be filled with an 
unexpectedly sweet and pure love to God, and to 
the children of God, with a refreshing consolation 
and solace of soul which made me willing to lie on 
the earth at the feet of the servants of God, to 
declare His gracious dealings with me, and breathe 
forth before them my love and gratitude and praise. 
All night I continued in a constant clear and lively 
sense of the heavenly sweetness of Christ's excellent 
and transcendent love, of His nearness to me, and 
of my nearness to Him with an inexpressibly sweet 
calmness of soul in an entire rest in Him. 

''My soul remained in a heavenly elysium. It was 
a pure delight which fed and satisfied my soul. It 
was a sweetness which my soul was lost in. In the 
house of God, so conscious was I of the joyful 
presence of the Holy Spirit, that my soul was filled 
and overwhelmed with light and love in the Holy 
Ghost; and seemed just ready to go away from the 
body. 

'This exaltation of soul subsided into a heavenly 
calm and a rest of soul in God, which was even 
sweeter than what preceded it. I never think of 
this experience without an inexpressible sweetness 
in my soul." 

We give in conclusion, a brief extract from 
D. L. Moody's Secret Power: 

Secret of Joy. 

It is our privilege to be full of the joy of the 
Lord. We read that When Philip went down to 
Samaria and preached, there was great joy in the 



CONSECRATION 81 

city. Why ? Because they beheved the glad tidings. 
And that is the natural order, joy in believing. 
When we believe the glad tidings there comes a 
joy into our souls. Also we are told that our 
Lord sent the seventy out, and that they went 
forth preaching salvation in the name of Jesus 
Christ, and the result was that there were a great 
many who were blessed, and the seventy returned, 
it says, with great joy, and when they came back 
they said the very devils were subject to them 
through His name. The Lord seemed to just cor- 
rect them in this one thing when He said: "Re 
joice not that the devils are subject to you, but 
rejoice that your names are written in Heaven." 

There is assurance for you. They had some- 
thing to rejoice in now. God don't ask us to re- 
joice over nothing, but he gives us some ground 
for our joy. What would you think of a man or 
woman who seemed very happy to-day and full 
of joy and couldn't tell you what made them so? 
Suppose I should meet a man on the street, and 
he was so full of joy, that he should get hold of 
both my hands and say : 

''Bless the Lord, I am so full of joy." 

"What makes you so full of joy?" 

"Well, I don't know." 

"You don't know?" 

"No, I don't; but I am so joyful that I just 
want to get out of the flesh." 

"What makes you feel so joyful?" 

"Well, I don't know." 

Would we not think such a person unreasonable? 



82 CONSECRATION 

But there are a great many people who feel — who 
want to feel — that they are Christians before they 
are Christians; they want the Christian's expe- 
rience before they become Christians; they want 
to have the joy of the Lord before they receive 
Jesus Christ. But this is not the Gospel order. 
He brings joy when He comes, and we cannot 
have a joy apart from Him; there is no joy away 
away from Him; He is the author of it, and we 
find our joy in Him. 

A man or woman is not fit to work for God 
who is cast down, because they go about their work 
with a tell-tale face. "The joy of the Lord is your 
strength." What we need to-day is a joyful church. 
A joyful church will make inroads upon the works 
of Satan, and we will see the Gospel doing down 
into dark lanes and dark alleys, and into dark gar- 
rets and cellars, and you will see the drunkards 
reached and the gamblers and the harlots come 
pressing into the kingdom of God. It is this 
carrying a sad countenance, with so many wrin- 
kles on our brows, that retards Christianity. 

Oh, may there come great joy upon believers 
everywhere, that we may shout for joy and rejoice 
in God day and night. A joyful church — let us 
pray for that, that the Lord may make us joyful, 
and when we have joy then we will have success; 
and if we don't have the reward we think we 
should have here, let us constantly remember the 
rewarding time will come hereafter. 



CHAPTER VI. 

INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY. 

"It may not be on the mountain's height, 

Or over the stormy sea; 
It may not be at the battle's front 

My Lord will have need of me. 
But if by a still, small voice He calls 

To paths that I do not know, 
I'll answer, 'Dear Lord, with my hand in Thine, 

I'll go where you want me to go. 
I'll say what you want me to say, dear Lord, 

I'll be what you want me to be, 
I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord, 

Over mountain, or plain, or sea.' " 

Daniel Webster, when asked "What is the most 
important thought you ever entertained?" replied, 
after a moment's reflection: 

''The most important thought I ever had was my 
individual responsibility to a personal God." 

The soul that is saved from sin, and filled with 
the Holy Spirit, feels this responsibility, and gives 
to God all his redeemed powers — time, talents, in- 
fluence, reputation — all are on the altar, and his 
supreme desire is to give to Christ the best service 
he can render. 

Garret said, when set at liberty: "Is Garret 
free? Then all his body's powers shall be given 
to the new Master." 

(83) 



84 CONSECRATION 

We remember with peculiar interest the reply to 
the youthful and heroic Carey as he stood in the 
midst of an assembly of clergymen, and pleaded 
for the redemption of India! asking that he him- 
self might be sent as a missionary to that land. 
The reply came from one older and who evidently 
considered himself much wiser: 

"Sit down, young man. When God wants to con- 
vert the heathen He can do it without your help 
or mine." 

A proof that conventions of clergymen even are 
not always infallible in reaching conclusions. We 
admit that God has all power in heaven and on 
earth, that He has infinite resources by which He 
can accomplish the purposes of His will; but in all 
His dealings with the world He works through 
human instrumentalities. He only does for us that 
which we cannot do. Man was created for labor 
even before the blighting influence of sin reached 
us. He was put into the beautiful Garden of 
Eden ''to dress it^, and to keep it." In nature God 
gives seed time and harvest, but man must plow 
and sow and reap, and God gives the increase. 

We see the same principle manifested in the first 
miracle of Christ, in Cana of Galilee. Though 
Jesus was Omnicient, and infinite in knowledge, 
they made known their wants unto Him. The 
mother of Jesus said: 

"They have no wine." 

Jesus said: "Fill the water pots." 

They filled them up to the brim. The mother 



CONSECRATION 85 

knew there would be duties for them to perform 
before Jesus would manifest His power; and she 
said: 

''Whatsoever He saith unto you do it." 

When we reach this point, and acquiesce in 
whatsoever He saith, we are sure that He will hear 
our prayers, and if He hear us, we know that we 
shall have the petitions we desire of Him. 

When Jesus came to the grave of Lazarus, he 
said: "Take ye away the stone." After this He 
cried with a loud voice: ''Lazarus, come forth," 
and he that was dead came forth bound hand and 
foot with grave clothes. Impossible for him to 
move or stand thus bound without miracle. Could 
not the Omnipotent One, who burst the bonds of 
death, have snapped the little windings that held 
him? Yes! but Jesus said: 

"Loose him, and let him go." 

So in the miraculous draught of fishes they were 
again to cast in the net. In the economy of grace 
there is something for us to do. God has provided 
a Savior — has given His Holy Spirit to convince 
of sin, but has left the Church to enlighten the 
world. The divine commission, "Go ye and teach 
all nations," was given not only to the disciples 
who stood with Jesus as He parted from them and 
ascended triumphantly to His throne in the skies; 
but to all who should believe on His name; to you 
and to me. 

"Go !" That does not mean inaction, sitting 
down, or standing still ; but Go ! 



86 



CONSECRATION 



"Who?" 

"Go yer 

"Where?" 

"Into all the world." 

"What for? To teach science and philosophy; 
to introduce our modern civilization, to raise them 
to a higher plane intellectually, socially, and mor- 
ally?" 

"No! To preach the Gospel. Tell them of 
Jesus, of His coming to save them, of His death 
upon the cross, of His glorious resurrection, of 
His gracious intercession, pleading even now before 
the Father's throne for them — to every nation. 
Thank God ! all nations, and tribes, and clans are 
bound together by the blood of Christ." 

Bishop Berry says : "Every Christian is an evan- 
gelist." Not every church member, but every one 
truly consecrated to God. Such a one cannot re- 
tain justification or sanctification without laboring 
for the advancement of the Redeemer's Kingdom 
in the salvation of others. What was the first 
thought that took possession of your soul after 
you had given praise to God for deliverance from 
sin, and for the love and joy so freely imparted? 
Was it not that your dearest earthly friends might 
also be saved? and the more you loved them, the 
more ardent your desire became. 

There are many in the Church who imagine they 
have no special duties to perform. They regard 
the church organizations as helpful and useful. The 
Home and Foreign Mission work, with their ap- 



CONSECRATION 87 

pointed leaders, they regard as all right, and as 
far as means will permit, contribute liberally to 
help them in the work of preaching the Gospel to 
every creature. 

When their money is given they imagine their 
part well done. But in God's word the work is not 
assigned to any one class of persons, but to all 
according to opportunity and ability. 

Organizations for Christian effort do not excuse 
us. They increase our facilities for the work, and 
thus increase our responsibility to work. We can 
no longer plead ignorance of the wants and woes 
of our heathen sisters, or the manner in which we 
may reach them, when inform^ation is diffused so 
freely in all the borders of our Zion. Returned 
misionaries are supplying information constantly 
from every field. 

"From Greenland's icy mountains 
To India's coral strand." 

These zealous home workers are delivering ad- 
dresses in all the churches, glad of opportunities 
that are given them to tell the story. 

Missionary literature is increasing; valuable 
books multiplying, leaflets full of good things both 
new and old come floating into our homes like 
doves to our windows — carrier pigeons, bearing on 
their wings messages of other lands — tidings from 
afar — of nations in commotion prepared for Zion's 
war. 

You are a soldier of Jesus, and He is marshalling 



88 CONSECRATION 

His hosts, and with banners unfurled, floating in 
the breezes of Heaven, crimsoned in the blood of 
our Immanuel, He is calling you to rise and follow 
as He leads you forth to the conquest of this world 
for Christ. 

Soldiers must obey orders! Who ever heard of 
a soldier refusing to follow the directions of his 
commander? and yet there are some who profess 
to be soldiers of Christ who say: 

*'I know I am not obeying the voice of the Spirit. 
I am not willing to do the things that seem of doubt- 
ful propriety to my more worldly minded friends. 
I do not want to appear singular in their eyes by 
speaking or praying in public, or doing anything 
else that may be criticised. I want to keep my good 
name and my place in society, even though it may 
approach the seat of the scornful." 

God pity those poor souls who are trying to serve 
Him while they are bound hand and foot by the god 
of this world! Do you wonder that they find it 
hard to serve in this way? We cannot serve Him 
acceptably unless we surrender all to Him. We are 
not our own. We are bought with a price. And 
what a price! Well may we sing: 

"Were the whole realm of Nature mine 

That were a present far too small; 
Love so amazing, so divine, 

Demands my soul, my life, my all." 

We must be about our Master's business. It is 
not a matter of choice with us as to what we prefer 
to do, but taking our places at the feet of the dear 



CONSECRATION 89 

Redeemer, who by His own blood saved us from 
the power and dominion of sin, let us ask ''What 
wilt Thou have me to do?" And when His will 
concerning us is revealed, let it be our highest joy- 
to render any service He may require. One illus- 
tration comes to mind as I write: 

In the city of D lived a prominent lawyer, 

greatly loved and honored by all who knew him. 
He was intellectual, noble and pure-minded. His 
wife was a member of a Christian church, but he 
was not a professing Christian. His youngest child, 
a beautiful little girl, whom he almost idolized, was 
taken ill with diphtheria. In spite of the best medi- 
cal aid that could be secured, the disease increased 
in violence. As the end was fast approaching the 
mother was inconsolable — almost broken-hearted. 
At this time the father sent for me, saying that the 
mother could no longer hold the child, and as she 
was still conscious, and wished to be held in arms, 
they desired one whom the child loved to be with 
her. 

I hastened to the home, and held the dear one in 
my arms until she ceased to breathe. After a time, 
when all was done that could be done, and the dear 
child looked as if sweetly sleeping, I said to the 
parents : 

''Now I think you should take a little refresh- 
ment. You have been a long time without any, and 
I fear unless you do your strength will give out." 

They consented, if, as they said, I would sit with 
them. When the table was prepared, and we were 



90 CONSECRATION 

seated around it, there came a silence. I was just 
about to ask a blessing when Mr. R. commenced. 
He said a few words, then stopped and, bursting 
into tears, said: 

"Pardon me, Mrs. W., but I did not realize my 
weakness. I thought, while our dear little darling 
is lying near me, I would do what I should have 
done long ago — my duty to God and my family. 
That precious child last week took dinner with you. 
When she returned to us, she climbed upon my knee 
and said: 

" Tapa, I want to tell you something. Docker W. 
prays over his plate at the table when he eats. Is 
that wight?'" 

" 'Yes, my dear; that is right.* " 

" 'Then why don't you pray on your plate, papa? 
You do what is wight, don't you ?' " 

" Tt was all right for Dr. W., my darling. He 
is a preacher, you know.' " 

" 'But, papa, can't anybody 'cept preachers pray 
on their plates when they eat ?' " 

"Blessed child!" he continued, "I will defer no 
longer praying over my plate." 

His yielding to the voice of the Spirit, and obey- 
ing the command, brought peace to his soul, even 
amid this severe trial. The next Sabbath he stood 
before the altar and acknowledged Christ as his 
Savior by joining the church. 



CONSECRATION 91 

God's service is one of delight to the consecrated 
soul. He is not a hard Master, but our tender, 
compassionate, loving friend, who has promised to 
be with us always, and He only requires the serv- 
ice of us that is needed for our own spiritual 
development. Your child cannot grow in strength 
and beauty if it never has any exercise ; neither can 
we grow in grace, strong in God and in the power 
of His might, without exercising — using the talents 
He has given us. We need the benefit the service 
brings us more than God needs us for the advance- 
ment of His cause. 

We must not wait always to feel the power 
before we engage in service, but surrendering all 
to Christ go forward trusting in His immutable 
promise for strength to perform, and success to 
attend our labors. 

Mr. D. had been seeking Christ for a long time. 
He presented himself at the altar every evening 
for prayers — for weeks, and seemed completely 
discouraged. We asked: 

"Have you given yourself to God uncondition- 
ally?" 

''Yes; I have as far as I know." 

"Then to whom do you belong?" 

"To God, if He accepts me, and saves me." 

"But there are no conditions, no ifs. You have 
given yourself to God. You do not expect to take 
the offering back again, do you? If you give a sum 
of money to a friend as a Christmas present, you 



92 CONSECRATION 

have no right to take it back, even if he does not 
use it as you expected — to the best advantage. You 
do not think of such a thing. What you have given 
to God belongs to Him. You are not your own. 
You are His, and you must act accordingly. 

''Now, my friend, to-morrow do just what you 
think a man who belongs to God, and who is en- 
gaged in His service, should do. Keep on doing 
it, and I assure you it will not be long before you 
will have the witness of the Spirit that you are 
accepted." 

In the morning he said: "I think a Christian 
should ask a blessing at his breakfast table." 

He did so. His voice trembled, and his eyes 
were moist as he said the ''Amen." When the 
breakfast was over, he said : 

''I have promised to do to-day what I think a 
Christian should do ; and I think a Christian should 
have family prayer. Elizabeth (his wife) you read 
a chapter, and I will try to pray. We can all say 
the Lord's Prayer." 

He began and finished the Lord's Prayer; then 
thanked God for His love in providing salvation 
for the world. With much animation, he said: 
"Glory be to God !" And then in a loud voice, he 
cried out : 

''O, praise the Lord! It is done! It is done! 
I am saved ; I am saved I" 



CONSECRATION 93 

Sometimes if the individual is more retiring and 
less self-asserting in disposition, the tempter will 
be very apt to say : 

"Think of your weakness. You cannot accom- 
plish any good by engaging in this service. And 
you may injure the cause by attempting that for 
which you are entirely unfitted. If you could pray, 
speak, or sing, like some others of whom you know, 
then you could accomplish something. But you 
cannot, and you are not responsible." 

Ah! well do we remember experiences of the 
past, when, perhaps, with trembling voice and eyes 
blinded with tears, so that we could scarcely see 
the lines before us, we resolved in the strength of 
grace that we would do and dare for Christ. The 
vows of God were on us, and as we stepped forth 
upon the promises of God we found they were not 
treacherous waves or sinking sands, but eternal 
granite under our feet. And as we thought of the 
Omnipotent power of Jehovah pledged for our sup- 
port, of His wondrous love and abundant mercy in 
providing salvation for all the world, how we did 
appreciate the privilege of standing up for Jesus! 
How we did glory in the cross ! Our souls were 
filled with joy, and glad hallelujahs rose from our 
hearts, while the approbation of the Father — ''Well 
done !" — seemed to be echoed, and re-echoed by the 
song of the angels as it fell from the skies, and 
flooded our souls 'like the sound of a great Amen." 

Do not be disheartened or make excuses because 
you cannot labor with satisfaction to yourself, 



94 CONSECRATION 

Moses excused himself of some duties which God 
required of him, because he said he was so slow 
of speech. Does God err? Did He who created 
him not know all about his speech? God did not 
force or compel him. He allowed him to procure 
a substitute; but God only knows what Moses lost. 
I believe he lost spiritual power. Perhaps if obe- 
dient he might have resisted temptation. He would 
not have broken in anger the tables of stone, and 
as a result of sin died on Mount Nebo. God greatly 
honored him, and saved him. 

Jeremiah and Isaiah both thought they could not 
speak for God — were too weak and unworthy. But 
when the angel took the coal of fire and touched the 
prophet's lips, he cried out, weary and refraining: 

"Here am I. Send me!" 

When the mighty baptism of power falls upon 
you, you can no longer be quiet and inactive. No 
matter if you think yourself weak or unworthy, 
God created you. He wanted you to work. He gave 
you the temperament and surroundings He wished 
you to have. If you have not thwarted God's plan, 
and wilfully gone out of your providential way, you 
are just where He intended you should be. Every 
human life is a plan of God. He delights in variety. 
He never made any two human beings just alike; 
and He never will. He wants us to retain our 
individuality. He knew how He wanted the instru- 
ment to be made. If anything is wrong He can 
make it right. He can tune it and make it bring 
forth delightful harmony. 



CONSECRATION 95 

Look at that orchestra. Look at the various in- 
struments — some bright and shining, some small 
and dark colored. Now listen for a moment to 
each instrument. Bass, tenor, alto, soprano. Noth- 
ing striking or remarkable. Suppose the bass says, 
*'I am so unlike the soprano, I can never reach high 
enough to be of service, and the tenor says, I am 
altogether too high, I cannot come down to the 
alto. I am sure we cannot work harmoniously." 
But the Master Musician comes along and says, 
"You are mistaken. I tuned each instrument just 
as I wanted it. You are all just right. Now alto- 
gether!" They strike their instruments with con- 
fidence and courage and pour forth such soul- 
enrapturing strains of music that we wonder if the 
harmonies of heaven can surpass them. 

One has said: *T would rather have my right 
arm with which to serve God than an angel's wing." 
God does not always select the best fitted instru- 
ment, but the one near at hand, the ready one. 

The Lord said unto Moses: ''What is that in 
thine hand?" 

And he said: "A rod." 

And the Lord said : "Use it. Do as I tell you 
with it, and it will accomplish wonders. Thou shalt 
take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do 
signs." 

Moses took the rod but did not appear to fully 
realize that he had any special work to perform. 
He was going to let God do it all without any special 



96 CONSECRATION 

effort on his part. He said to his people: "You 
need not fear. You stand still and see the salvation 
of the Lord. The Lord shall fight for you and ye 
shall hold your peace." If they had exercised faith, 
and felt in their hearts that their part, so far, had 
been well done, then they could stand still and 
patiently wait for the Lord to bring them to victory. 

But the Lord said unto Moses : "Why criest thou 
unto Me? Speak unto the children of Israel, that 
they go forward." 

Dr. Adam Clarke, in his Commentary, says : "We 
hear not one word of Moses' praying, and yet here 
the Lord asks him why he cries unto him? From 
which we may learn that the heart of Moses was 
deeply engaged with God, though it is probable that 
he did not articulate one word ; but the language of 
sighs, tears, and desires is equally intelligible to God 
with that of words. This consideration should be 
a strong encouragement to every feeble, discour- 
aged mind. Thou canst not pray, but thou canst 
weep ; if even tears are denied thee (for there may 
be deep and genuine repentance, where the distress 
is so great as to stop up those channels of relief), 
then thou canst sigh; and God, whose Spirit has 
thus convinced thee of sin, righteousness and judg- 
ment, knows thy unutterable groanings, and reads 
the inexpressible wish of thy burdened soul, a wish 
of which Himself is the author, and which He has 
breathed into thy heart with the purpose to satisfy it. 

God knew all about the cry of Moses, and he 
asks, "Wherefore criest thou unto Me? The re- 



CONSECRATION 97 

sponsibility now lies with you. Speak unto the 
children of Israel that they go forward." 

This takes us back to a critical time in the history 
of the early church, when God proposed to raise 
up, or bring out a people who should, in a peculiar 
sense, be His own. For hundreds of years the 
Israelites had toiled and suffered in Egypt. The 
promises made by God to their ancestors were well 
nigh forgotten; but the time for their fulfillment 
had now come. We need not speak of the struggle 
between the monarch of Egypt and the God of 
Israel, but we know that God always leads his 
children to certain victory. 

"Truth in the end shall shine divinely clear, 
But sad the darkness till those times appear," 

"For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing 
of the needy, now will I rise, said the Lord; I will 
set him in safety from him that puffeth at him." 

Israel was encamped, by God's command, on the 
shores of the Red Sea, some millions of them; un- 
disciplined, unarmed, with their wives and children 
still more defenseless. With these refugees fleeing 
from servitude and death were treasured all the 
traditions of the race: the covenant with God, the 
promise of the Messiah; all that was true in doc- 
trine, pure in morals, and bright in hope for the 
future of God's people. It was time they should 
have a national history and polity. 

Pharaoh's hosts were well disciplined, armed with 
horses, chariots, footmen, archers, spearmen, and 



9B CONSECRATION 

swordsmen. The pillar of fire moved to the rear 
of the camp, giving light to the Israelites, and con- 
fusion to their enemies, who, filled with wrath be- 
cause of the death of their first born, in the last 
plague, and the loss of their prey, were in close 
pursuit. 

Now there is difficulty. The mountains rise on 
either side. Before them is the sea, behind them 
Pharaoh's hosts. As they comprehend the situation, 
and saw the Egyptians marching after them, they 
were sore afraid. They had not the spiritual vision 
of Moses. When God called His servants to lead 
in a specific work, he gives them the necessary 
qualifications. He endows them with the needed 
intellectual and spiritual power. 

Elisha, also, had this spiritual vision. When at 
Dothan, and his servant had risen early, and found 
that they were encompassed by a host with horses 
and chariots, he said unto him: 

''Alas! my Master! how shall we do?" 
Elisha answered: ''Fear not, for they that be 
with us are more than they that be with them." 

Elisha prayed, not for deliverance, or for special 
help, but that the eyes of the young man might be 
opened to see the power that overshadowed them, 
and that was pledged for their defense. 

"And he saw, and behold the mountain was full 
of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." 
This was to that servant the visible manifestation 
of God's omnipotent power. 



CONSECRATION 99 

It must have been the same power that prompted 
the Marys to go with their sweet spices to embalm 
the body of Christ. True, there was no sea before 
them, but there was a great stone at the mouth of 
the sepulchre. They know that it was sealed; that 
a Roman guard was stationed there to prevent its 
being removed. But their faith and love over- 
reached all impossibilities, and as they went for- 
ward they said : 

"Who shall roll us away the stone?" They be- 
lieved it was to be done, but by whom they did not 
know. When they reached the place the stone was 
rolled away and an angel sat upon it. How often 
have we had similar experiences as we have gone 
forth to do some work for God and humanity. 
Realizing our weakness, and the difficulties in the 
way, our hearts were palpitating with fear, but as 
we went forward we found the difficulties removed, 
and the strengthening angels very near us. Like 
Bunyan's Pilgrim, we find the threatening lions 
chained, or if not, God always shuts their mouths. 

God says : "Do not wait for other manifestations, 
Moses, but speak; tell them to go forward." 

Canon Wilberforce says : "There can be no doubt 
that there are occasions when the intensity of our 
supplications is the measure of our faithlessness. 
If we trusted God more we would supplicate less." 

The disciples on the stormy sea awoke their sleep- 
ing Lord with a cry: "Master, we perish." The 
compassionate Jesus rebuked the waves and calmed 
their fears. There is a gentle remonstrance in the 



100 CONSECRATION 

question: 'Where is your faithf" They ought to 
have endured the storm in perfect assurance of 
safety. So God says to Moses : 

"Cease this crying, this inward struggle. Go 
forward." 

The mountains and the sea say: "Impossible!" 
Human reason says: "Impossible!" but 

"Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees, 
And looks to that alone. 
Laughs at impossibilities, 
And cries 'It shall be done !' " 

Unbelief says: "Alas! Master! How shall we 
do?" 

Faith says: "Go!" 

"But the sea ! Look at its foaming billows !" 

"Plunge in ! Sink or swim ! God will take care 
of results." 

God says : "Moses, you cannot throw aside your 
responsibility. Do your part." 

They went forward. As they advanced they in- 
creased in power; the difficulties vanished; their 
enemies were overcome. God gave them glorious 
victory. No wonder they were joyous and their 
song of triumph swelled and, gathering, burst in 
one grand volume of sound like a hallelujah from 
myriad lips. Were these the voices of men only? 

"Hark! Out of the resounding echo, out of the 
dying cadence, I hear a woman's voice. Clear, pure, 
rich, it soars above the tumult of the hosts. Higher, 
sweeter it seemed to break the fetters of mortality, 



CONSECRATION 101 

and tremble in sublime adoration before the Infinite. 
Is it a spirit-voice, one of the glittering host of the 
jasper city, who hymn eternal praises before the 
throne ? No ! The tone floats out soft, sad and 
human. 

"There are no sorrowful strains in the songs of 
the ransomed; no night of sorrow; no pursuing 
enemy, but songs of victory. That beautiful voice 
is of earth, and sin-stricken. Again it rises, the 
sadness all gone, ringing gladly, joyfully up to the 
sky. And hark ! 'Tis in the Hebrew tongue. 'Sing 
ye to the Lord for He hath triumphed glorioiisly; 
the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the 
sea/ 'Tis the song of Miriam ! And the clash of 
music breaks forth from innumerable timbrels." 

Yes, God had service for Miriam as well as for 
Moses, and in the Church of Christ to-day the 
need of woman's work is felt as never before. Her 
power for the subduing of moral evil, the ameliora- 
tion of suffering, and the successful prosecution of 
moral reforms was never so generally conceded. 
God has given her ability to grapple with all diffi- 
culties in every sphere that has opened to her, and 
wisdom and power in formulating great plans, and 
in executing them. 

Bishop Thoburn, of India, says : "It seems to me, 
when I look forward and think about the great 
army of consecrated workers that God will raise 
up, as if I could hear the tread of angels' feet on 
all the streets of our great cities. I believe that 
God is about to raise up an army of women workers, 



102 CONSECRATION 

such as you know nothing about; such as I myself 
have never dreamed of." 

On the day of Pentecost, when the holy company 
met in the upper room, they all continued with one 
accord in prayer and supplication with the women, 
and Mary the Mother of Jesus. The voices of these 
women must have mingled in those supplications. 
And the Holy Spirit fell upon them with marvellous 
wonder-working power. The matter was noised 
abroad, and the people came together, and were 
amazed at what they saw and heard. They could 
not understand it. 

Peter stood up in the midst of them and said: 
''Men and brethren, the Scripture must needs be 
fulfilled. These are not drunken as ye suppose, 
but this is that which was spoken by the prophet 
Joel: 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, 
saith God, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all 
flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall 
prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, 
and your old men shall dream dreams; and on My 
servants and on My hand-maidens I will pour out in 
those days of My Spirit ; and they shall prophesy.' " 

Dr. Adam Clarke, in his Commentary, says : 
"The word prophesy is not to be understood here 
as implying the knowledge and discovery of future 
events, but signifies to teach and proclaim the great 
truths of God, especially those which concern re- 
demption by Jesus Christ." 

Our Heavenly Father never requires impossi- 
bilities of us. He wants us to be co-laborers with 



CONSECRATION 103 

Himself. He does not often bring the angels down 
to help Him in the salvation of souls; but will 
accept your services. '*If you want a field of labor 
you can find it anywhere." Perhaps your own 
household — your near neighbors. "O !" you say, 
"I have prayed for my children ever since they 
were born. I send them to Sabbath school. They 
have faithful teachers who will do them good, and 
who, perhaps, understand the Scriptures better 
than I do. The adults in our family go to church 
and hear eloquent sermons that ought to convince 
them of sin and their need of salvation." This is 
all right so far, but it does not relieve you of 
responsibility. No other person can do your duty 
or your part of the work. 

A mother went to visit her son in prison, who 
was sentenced to die for his crime. With streaming 
eyes and heart crushed with anguish unutterable, 
she sobbed out: 

"O, my darling boy, has it come to this? I have 
prayed for you, Charlie, all your life." 

"Yes, mother," he replied, "I am^sure you have 
prayed for me, but you never prayer with me. Oh, 
if you had only prayed with me, my dear mother, 
perhaps it would have saved me." 

We are responsible for our influence. "It is a 
power mysterious and pervasive as the laws which 
hold and bind the universe. We never write a letter 
or exchange a salutation without leaving an impres- 
sion." The influence of our parents, even though 



104 CONSECRATION 

we could spend but little time with them, will linger 
with us while life remains. 

Scarcely a day passes in which I do not, in some 
measure, live over again the early home life with 
my own sainted parents. I hear again their words 
of love and encouragement; their prayers at the 
family altar, and the songs of Zion which they used 
to sing. I remember the first time I visited home 
after the death of my father. Mother was still 
living, and on her account I tried to put all sadness 
aside. I met her with a smile, and gave her a 
cheerful greeting. As soon as I could leave, unob- 
served, I went to my father's library. I looked at 
the books upon the shelves, but they were silent. 
I thought of the many happy hours we had spent 
there together, and I said to myself, *'Is it all over? 
Shall we never more converse together on the sub- 
jects in which he was always so deeply interested? 
And as I go forth with my itinerant husband to live 
and labor on a new charge, shall I never more hear 
his fervent 'God bless you, my child, and make you 
a blessing.' Shall I never receive any more letters 
asking 'How are you getting on in the new church ? 
Are sinners coming home to Christ'?" I began to 
be sad. An indescribable longing seized me for 
"the touch of a vanished hand and the sound of a 
voice that was still." 

I took down my father's Bible. He had a habit 
of marking the verses that he loved best, and now 
that he was gone how precious were those to me! 
So I sat there for some time turning the leaves that 



CONSECRATION 105 

his hands had daily pressed, and eagerly reading 
the marked verses, until my eyes rested on this: 
"As I live, saith the Lord, the whole earth shall be 
filled with the knowledge of the glory of God," and 
under it my father had written : ''A most wonder- 
ful and glorious promise! Good Lord, hasten the 
time." 

In a moment the sadness was gone. A joy un- 
speakable filled my heart, and the room seemed 
radiant with divine light, and with an eye of faith 
I seemed to see my father looking down from the 
portals of bliss, and saying to my sister in India, and 
to myself a humble home worker : "Toil on, daugh- 
ters ! This world is to be redeemed ! The mouth of 
the Lord hath spoken it, and as you go forth weep- 
ing and bearing precious seed, you shall doubtless 
come again with rejoicing, bringing your sheaves 
with you." And in the sacredness and glory of that 
hour I kneeled and reconsecrated myself and all my 
redeemed powers to God, and promised to do what 
I could to "hasten the time." 

We often speak of responsibility in regard to 
great things as though the smaller acts of our lives 
were performed, or left unperformed without re- 
sponsibility. This is a great mistake. It is the 
little things, after all, that count most with God. 
Listen, and you hear him say: "Pure religion and 
undefiled before God and the Father is this: To 
visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, 
and to keep himself unspotted from the world." 



106 CONSECRATION 

"The glory of life is to love, not to be loved; to 
give, not to get; to serve, not to be served. To be 
a strong hand in the dark to another in the time 
of need, to be a cup of strength to a human soul in 
a crisis of weakness, is to know the glory of life. 
When we are thus consecrated, and going forward 
in the service of our Lord, we will ever find our 
highest joy in ministering to others; trying to dry 
up the fountains of sin and shame, to bind up the 
broken-hearted; to cheer the disconsolate, to raise 
the fallen, and to do our utmost in every way to 
make every creature on God's footstool purer and 
happier. This will count for more in the annals 
of eternity than a warrior's victory or a statesman's 
triumph." 

We have opportunities an angel might covet. If 
an angel from Heaven, one of the brightest and 
best of the sons of the morning, one of those nearest 
the Eternal Throne, always beholding the face of 
the Father, if he could have the privilege of bear- 
ing the tidings of this great salvation to those who 
have never heard, how glad he would be! How 
quickly he would drop his golden lyre, and hastening 
to the wretched homes of darkness and sin, he would 
never fold his tireless wings till every heart were 
illumined with the light of life. Angels cannot have 
the privilege. God has given it to us. Opportunity 
and responsibility go hand in hand. 

The photographer tells us if we will sit before 
his camera a moment, he will give us a correct 
picture of ourselves. When we arise we look in 



CONSECRATION 107 

vain for the picture upon the plate; but the master 
artist subjects it to a chemical process, when lo ! the 
picture appears painted by the sun so perfectly that 
the subject is sometimes more than satisfied; and 
the artist is required to soften a line here, and 
subdue a shade there, before the person looks with 
complacency upon it. 

So, for a "little moment'' as the sacred writer 
terms it, we are placed before the camera of eter- 
nity. We see not the impressions made. All un- 
consciously we act, think and speak. The curtain 
falls — the painting is done. The Master touches it, 
and in eternity it stands forth. He will make no 
changes. He will soften no lines, subdue no shad- 
ows, make no false representations, but every line 
of beauty which the soul possesses He will bring 
out. All the impressions made by the acts of kind- 
ness, words of love, and even the cup of cold water 
given in the name of a disciple will never be effaced. 

Then let us not be disheartened, but continue our 
labor of love, and when life's day is ended and night 
draws her sable curtain round us, as we lie down 
to rest, we can look up into the face of our Father 
and say : ''Circumstances have not always seemed 
favorable, and I have made some mistakes, hut I 
have done what I could." He will fold us to the 
breast of His infinite love, and smile with appro- 
bation upon us, and we will have served Him as 
acceptable as the highest archangel that waves his 
wings of fire before the eternal throne. 



CHAPTER VII. 

WE COUNT THEM HAPPY WHICH ENDURE. 

"Come unto me, ye who are heavy laden," 

Come unto me, ye who are sore oppressed, 
The white-haired sire, the young and tender maiden, 

"Come unto me, and I will give you rest." 
Ye who have sighed for kindred voice to bless you, 

Ye who so oft its gentle tones have blest. 
Come where in peace they shall again caress you, 
"Come unto me, and I will give you rest." 

The soul that is wholly saved from sin, and set 
apart for God's service, will accept whatever God 
sends, not only with submission, or resignation, but 
with joy. For he knows his Heavenly Father loves 
him with an everlasting love; and will not permit 
anything to harm him. He knows, too, that what 
comes to him is by divine permission, and is working 
together for his good. 

James, the brother of our blessed Lord, under- 
stood this, and he says : "My brethren count it all 
joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing 
that the trial of your faith worketh patience. But 
let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be 
perfect and entire, wanting nothing." 

Again James counts. He says : ''Behold, we count 
(108) 



CONSECRATION 109 

them happy which endure." "The Lord is very- 
pitiful and of tender mercy." This is true, James, 
but you are not counting as the world counts. The 
worldly philosopher says: "We do not count those 
happy who endure. We pity and commiserate them. 
There is nothing in pain, endurance or suffering of 
any kind that can bring joy to one who has not 
Christ enthroned within. And to one who has 
Christ there is always sunshine in the soul, and this 
makes a sunny side to suffering." "As sorrowful 
yet always rejoicing," and while he prays, 

"O, for a faith that will not shrink 
Tho pressed by every foe; 
That will not tremble on the brink 
Of any earthly foe." 

he glories in tribulation, knowing that "tribulation 
maketh patience, and patience experience, and ex- 
perience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, be- 
cause the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts 
by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." 

Perhaps you say sometimes, "Oh, if I only knew 
why God permits this trial, I could bear it better." 
We must trust Jesus right through whether we 
understand His purposes concerning us or not. 

Madame Guyon triumphed amid all the fiery 
persecutions she endured. She said: "Nature cries 
out against the process of inward crucifixion, and 
the greater number stop short. Oh, if souls had 
courage enough to resign themselves to the work of 
purification, without having any weak or foolish 



110 CONSECRATION 

pity on themselves, what a noble, rapid and happy 
progress they would make." 

When imprisoned within the gloomy walls of the 
French Bastile she wrote: 

"Strong are the walls around me, 

That hold me all the day; 
But they who thus have bound me 

Can not keep God away! 
My very dungeon walls are dear, 

Because the God I love is here." 

But we need not go back to Madame Guyon or John 
Wesley's time to find illustrations of patient endur- 
ance. I am reminded of the experience of some of 
my personal friends, one of whom was the mother 
of the lost Charlie Ross, of Philadelphia. 

I met her, the first time, soon after the dear child 
was taken. We were in attendance upon a parlor 
holiness meeting. The subject given for considera- 
tion was 'The grace of God sufficient for us." The 
meeting was an interesting one. After several ladies 
had spoken, Mrs. Ross arose. I did not know who 
she was at that time — I was a stranger in the place ; 
but I noticed that all were deeply affected. She 
spoke of the grace of God — how wondrously it had 
sustained her amid her fiery trial. Among other 
things, she said: 

"Oh, sisters, it is not like death ! It is not like 
death! If we only had his little body here, what 
a happy funeral we would have, for we would then 
know that he is at rest in Heaven." 

She told me in an interview afterward that before 
Charlie was taken she had received the blessing of 



CONSECRATION 111 

heart purity; and Jesus was so precious and sus- 
tained her with His presence. She said : 

"When the tidings first reached me, they sent a 
nurse to me, and she sat down and took my hand in 
hers, as I was on my way back to my desolated 
home, but I did not need her, for I felt that Jesus 
had hold of the other hand." 

On a charge that my husband once served as 
pastor, lived a devoted member, who called soon 
after we arrived at the parsonage, and said : "I 
want to tell you some of my experience. I am 
glad our pastor preached full salvation. I sought 
the blessing of a clean heart, and God cleansed me 
from all sin, and after that the Holy Ghost came 
upon me; I received power, not only to work for 
God, but to endure. But for this experience, it 
seems to me now, I never could have lived through 
the terrible trial that came to me afterward. Three 
summers ago four of my dear children, and my 
niece, my sister's only child, were all drowned in one 
day. My niece was soon to be married, and came 
to my home to talk the matter over with my two 
elder daughters, and to make the final preparations. 

"Our home bordered on a river, and we had a 
boat that we often used for pleasure, and my daugh- 
ters started with my niece to take a row on the 
water. The boat upset and they were drowned. 
When the tidings reached me I thought my cup of 
bitterness was full, with the loss of my two beau- 
tiful and accompHshed daughters, and the niece. 
Oh, what could my sister do ? What would she do ? 



112 CONSECRATION 

I did not know that the two little darlings were 
drowned until their lifeless bodies were also brought 
in and laid in the parlor beside the others. The 
doctor at last permitted me to go in and look at 
them. My husband took one arm, and the physician 
the other, and I went to see them. They looked 
like so many angels lying asleep. I stooped down 
and kissed them once, twice, thrice, four times, and 
my precious niece I kissed for myself, and for her 
mother. Oh, that cup of agony! I can never de- 
scribe it! What could I do? It seemed as if the 
earth were reeling under my feet. I said: 

" ^O God, Thou art the rock of my salvation ! 
Let my feet find the rock just now, or I shall sink 
beneath the burden of this woe ! Hast Thou not 
said, "My grace is sufficient for thee ?" I claim the 
fulfilment of that promise just now. This moment, 
Lord, grant me the support I need.' 

"Instantly I felt as if the arm of Omnipotence 
encircled me, and leaning upon it I walked to the 
window and looked out. It was raining, and the 
clouds were dark, but I looked through the clouds 
to the home to which my darlings had gone, and by 
faith I saw them. 

"I know the angels fold them^ close 
Beneath their glittering wings, 
And sooth them with a song that breathed 
Of Heaven's divinest things." 

And my soul was filled with rapture, and I said, 
'Hallelujah! Glory to God! He doeth all things 
well. Praise His name/ 



CONSECRATION 113 

"My son came running to me with a cup filled 
with something the doctor had given him. 'Here, 
mother dear,' he said, 'drink this. The doctor says 
you must take this. It is a Httle stimulant, and will 
help you to bear up.' 

" 'No, my child,' I said, 'I do not need the stimu- 
lant. I have something better. The grace of God 
is sufficient for me.' " 

It was sufficient for her in every event throughout 
her entire life. The tribulation, trial and sore be- 
reavement — a bereavement that seemed to have 
involved the loss of what had ever made life most 
precious to her. She not only patiently endured, 
but thanked God that He counted her worthy to 
suffer. She used to say to me: 'Tn the darkest 
night of my loneliness and sorrow God gives me so 
much to be thankful for that I often break out into 
singing with the tears upon my cheeks. 'As sor- 
rowful, yet always rejoicing.' 'The Lord is nigh 
unto them that are of a broken heart.' 'I will bless 
the Lord at all times ; His praise shall continually be 
in my mouth.' " 

While listening I thought of the words of Gof- 
thold: "As I was walking through a garden one day, 
I saw some fine flowers plucked from the plant, and 
I said to the gardener, 'Who hath done this ?' and he 
said, 'It was the Master,' and I held my peace." 

Dr. Matheson says, speaking of Paul's thorn: 
"And lest I should be exalted above measure, 
through the abundance of the revelations, there was 
given to me a thorn in the flesh." 



114 CONSECRATION 

"There was given to me/' can, then, the thorn be 
a gift from God ? I am in the habit of seeing God's 
gifts in the abundance of the things which my Hfe 
possesses, and I call those things the dangers of life 
which diminish the sum of its abundance. But here 
there is a complete reversal of my thoughts; the 
abundance is the danger, and that which diminishes 
it is the gift. Paul had been exalted above measure ; 
he had been standing on the heights of prosperity 
and summering in the sunshine of a cloudless day. 
The cloudlessness of the day is his greatest danger, 
and there is sent a mist over the sun. His spiritual 
life has been redolent with a breath of flowers, and 
there is sent a thorn among the flowers. The thorn 
is for the time God's best gift to the soul; there is 
something protective in it. It has no fragrance, it 
has no beauty; but it yields one of the sweetest uses 
of adversity — it reminds a human spirit that it is, 
after all, only human. 

Dr. Matheson is blind. He is learned and gifted. 
It is beautiful to witness the sweetness of his spirit. 
His touching prayer ought to strengthen the Chris- 
tian patience of God's afflicted children: 

"My God, I have never thanked Thee for my 
thorn. I have thanked Thee a thousand times for 
my roses, but not once for my thorn. I have been 
looking forward to a world where I shall get com- 
pensation for my cross, but I have never thought 
of my cross as itself a present glory. Thou Divine 
Love, whose human path has been perfected by 
suffering, teach me the glory of my cross, teach 



CONSECRATION 115 

me the value of my thorn. Show me that I have 
climbed to the path of pain. Show me that my 
tears have made my rainbow. Reveal to me that 
my strength was the product of that hour when I 
wrestled with the breaking of day. Then shall I 
know that my thorn was blessed by Thee, then shall 
I know that my cross was a gift from Thee, and I 
shall raise a monument to the hour of my sorrow, 
and the words that I shall write upon it will be 
these : Tt was good for me to be afflicted.' " 

In the year 1847 a beautiful and touching letter 
appeared, first in the Rochester Daily, and after in 
the New York Independent. It harmonizes so per- 
fectly with the subject of which we are speaking 
that I want to insert it just here. It was written 
by one whose heart had been chastened by sorrow. 
Left an orphan in childhood, she had reached ma- 
turity; was about to be married to a noble young 
man, when he suddenly sickened and died. One 
month after she lost her sight. I will give a brief 
extract of the letter: 

"My DEAR Lizzie : It is not pleasant to be blind. 
My poor eyes long to look abroad upon this beau- 
tiful world, and my prisoned spirit struggles to 
break its darkness and bathe again in the pure 
light of the upper skies. I would dearly love to 
go forth alone to breathe the air, as free as the 
breeze that fans my brow. But as Milton once said 
to his favorite daughter: Tt matters little whether 
one has a star to guide, or an angel hand to lead.' 
Two summers have come and gone since my Wil- 



ii6 CONSECRATION 

liam died in Rochester. We brought him here and 
laid him down in the grave to sleep, close by the 
side of his childhood's home, where the quick winds 
and white waves of Ontario come swelling to the 
shore; and high above its silvery bosom, clouds, 
dove-like, are hanging. One moon had hardly 
waned ere the angels came again, and while I slept 
darkened my weeping eyes forever! 

"An unyielding blight settled on all the joys of 
life. The cup of bliss that I was about to drink 
was dashed from my lips, and one mingled with 
bitterness was left me. My choicest plans for hap- 
piness and usefulness were forever frustrated. 
Those whom we learn to love die. The cold earth 
presses the lips we loved to kiss, and freezes the 
heart tuned to beat in unison with our own. 

"Lizzie ! Evermore I am blind, and a wanderer, 
but not homeless. I have God for my Father, the 
angels for friends, and Jesus is my Elder Brother. 
My spirit more than ever looks up to God in thank- 
fulness for the Bible — the Book of Books. In 
comparison Byron loses his fire, Milton his soar- 
ing. Gray his beauties, Homer his grandeur and 
figures. No eye like rapt Isaiah's ever pierced the 
veil of the future. No tongue ever reasoned like 
sainted Job. No poet ever sung like Israel's Shep- 
herd King, and God never created a wiser man than 
Solomon. The words of the Bible are pictures of 
immortality, dews from the tree of knowledge, 
pearls from the River of Life, and gems of celes- 
tial thought. As the moaning shell whispers of the 



CONSECRATION 117 

sea, so the Bible breathes of love in Heaven, the 
home of the angels, and joys too pure to die. 
Would I had read it more when my poor eyes could 
see! Would that more of its pure precepts were 
hound about my heart. 

"The world may entertain its ideas of a magnifi- 
cent deity, whose government is general ; but let me 
believe in the Lord of Elijah, whose providence is 
entire, ordering the minutest events in human life, 
and with a father's care arranging it for the great- 
est possible good. Yes, Lizzie, when storms gather, 
and my way is dark and drear, with no star to 
guide, or voice to cheer, my sinking spirit finds a 
refuge in the world-wide sympathies of a Savior 
who did not chide Mary for her tears, and came 
Himself to weep at the grave of His friend : 



'Out of the depths to thee I cry, 

Whose fainting footsteps trod 
The paths of our humanity, 

Incarnate Son of God ! 
Thou Man of grief, who once apart 

Didst all our sorrows bear, — 
The trembling hand, the fainting heart, 

The agony and prayer !" 

'Is this the consecrated dower, 

Thy chosen ones obtain, 
To know thy resurrection power 

Through fellowship of pain? 
Let faith transcend the passing hour, 

The transcient pain and strife. 
Upraised by an immortal power, 

The power of endless life." 



CHAPTER VIIL 

IS THE DOCTRINE OF PURITY AND PERFECT LOVE A 
NEW DOCTRINE? 

"Though you have much peace and comfort, 

Greater things you yet may find, 
Freedom from unholy tempers, 

Freedom from the carnal mind. 
Perfect faith, and perfect patience. 

Perfect lowliness, and then, 
Perfect hope, and perfect meekness, 

Perfect love to God and men." 

It is not a new doctrine. A thousand years 
before the dawn of Christianity, David prayed for 
the remission of his sins, and he also prayed for 
sanctification. ''Wash me thoroughly from mine 
iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin." "Purge 
me with hysop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and 
I shall be whiter than snow." ''Create in me a 
clean heart, O God ; and renew a right spirit within 
me." 

Since the Pentecostal baptism the faith once 
delivered to the saints has ever been maintained by 
the most spiritually minded of the various branches 
of the Church of Christ. Some have supposed that 
Wesley introduced it, and that it is a doctrine pecul- 

(118) 



CONSECRATION 119 

iar to Methodism. This is a mistake. One writer 
has said: "It was the doctrine of entire sanctifica- 
tion that gave birth to Methodism/' In the year 
1760 a great revival spread over England with 
wonderful power. ''A company of believers who 
had no doubt of the present favor of God, had 
met to pray. Some of them were so deeply con- 
victed of indwelling sin that with sighs and tears 
they cried to God for deliverance. While thus 
definitely and persistently waiting on God, in an 
instant one, and then another and another, began 
to praise God aloud because he had heard his 
prayer and given him what he sought — a clean 
heart. At the same meeting sinners were converted ; 
powerfully convicted, they cried for pardon, and 
found it. The next night they met again, and at 
that meeting one testified to pardon, and three testi- 
fied that God had then and there cleansed them 
from all sin." 

John Wesley preached and wrote much on this 
deep experience. He gave earnest counsel to the 
early Methodist preachers. He said: *'Do not neg- 
lect strongly and explicitly to urge believers to go 
on to perfection. Preach full sanctification. Preach 
it definitely. Preach it explicitly. Preach it strongly. 
Preach it frequently. Preach it constantly. Preach 
it whenever you have an opportunity. Insist on it 
everywhere. All our preachers should preach it — 
should make a point of preaching it constantly, 
strongly and explicitly." 



120 CONSECRATION 

Notwithstanding these strong expressions with 
regard to the importance of proclaiming it, some 
have doubted as to whether Wesley ever really 
experienced the blessing of Perfect Love. But we 
are not left in doubt with regard to it. In 1760 
Mr. Wesley wrote in his journal as follows: "As 
soon as Mr. Fugill began to speak, I felt my soul 
was all love. I was so stayed on God as I never 
felt before, and I knew that I loved Him with all 
my heart. When I came home I could ask for 
nothing. I could only give thanks. And the wit- 
ness, that God had saved me from all my sins, 
grew clearer every hour. On Wednesday this was 
stronger than ever. I have never since found my 
heart wandering from God." 

In 1771 Mr. Wesley wrote these words to Lady 
Maxwell: "Many years since I saw that Vithout 
holiness no man shall see the Lord.' I began fol- 
lowing after it, and inciting all with whom I had 
any intercourse to do the same. Ten years after 
God gave me a clearer view than I had before, of 
the way how to attain this, namely, by faith in the 
Son of God. And immediately I declared to all, 
'We are saved from sin, we are made holy by 
faith.' This I testified in private, in public, in print, 
and God confirmed it by a thousand witnesses. I 
have continued to declare this for above thirty 
years, and God has continued to confirm the word 
of his grace." 

Mr. Wesley was once summoned before the 
Bishop of London. The Bishop said: 



CONSECRATION 121 

"Mr. Wesley, what is this Christian perfection, 
or hoHness, which you and your brother are preach- 
ing all over the land?" Wesley replied: 

"It is nothing more than a compliance with the 
command, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with 
all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy 
mind.' " 

"Is that all, Mr. Wesley?" 

"That is all." 

"Then," said the Bishop, "publish it to the world." 

The early Methodist preached the doctrine 
everywhere they went; but they were not the orig- 
inal discoverers of this great truth. Their hearts 
were burning with desire to spread scriptural holi- 
ness "all over the land," but others, in various 
branches of the Christian church, had preached Per- 
fect Love before them. 

George Fox, who was born nearly a hundred 
years before Wesley, and who founded the Society 
of Friends, took a decided position in favor of the 
distinctive work of grace in the heart, which we 
call sanctification. 

I have selected some quotations from a little 
work containing conversations and letters by Nicho- 
las Herman, of Loraine, an unlettered man, who, 
after having been a soldier and a footman, was 
admitted a lay brother among the barefooted Car- 
melites at Paris in 1666, and was afterward known 
by the appellation of Brother Lawrence, 



122 CONSECRATION 

After his conversion, which took place when he 
was about eighteen years of age (nearly two hun- 
dred and fifty years ago), he grew eminently in the 
knowledge and love of God, endeavoring to walk 
as in His presence, and to direct all his actions to 
His glory. In this course he continued until the 
advanced age of eighty, when God gave him rest 
from his labors. 

The piety of his letters rescued them from obliv- 
ion. Many things have been said and written by 
more learned persons, and at an early date, but here 
is something of another kind, written by an illiterate 
person, whose knowledge was the result of his own 
experience: and yet, if, as one has said, "a good 
conscience is the best divinity," he was a very able 
divine. His experience proves that this doctrine is 
not alone taught by men, but is taught by the Holy 
Spirit to the humblest child of God. 

M. Beaufort says : "In different conversations 
that I had with Brother Lawrence, he told me that 
he entered a monastery, thinking that by so doing 
he should sacrifice to God his life, with its pleasures. 
But that he had not found the expected satisfaction. 
He said it was lamentable that we had so little 
faith. That instead of taking faith for the rule 
of their conduct, men amused themselves with 
trivial devotions, which changed daily. That the 
way of faith was the spirit of the church, and that 
it was sufficient to bring us to a high degree of 
perfection.' 



CONSECRATION 123 

" 'God,' said he, 'has infinite treasures to bestow, 
and we take up with a Httle sensible devotion, which 
passes in a moment. Blind as we are, we hinder 
God, and stop the current of His graces. But when 
He finds a soul penetrated with a lively faith. He 
pours into it His graces and favors plentifully: 
there they flow like a torrent, which, after being 
forcibly stopped against its ordinary course, when 

it has found a passage, spreads itself with impetu- 
osity and abundance.' " 

In a letter to a friend he says: ''Having found 
in many books different methods of going to God 
and divers practices of the spiritual life, I thought 
this might serve rather to puzzle me than facilitate 
what I sought after, which was nothing but how 
to become wholly God's. This made me resolve 
to give the all for the all: so after having given 
myself wholly to God, that He might take away 
my sin, / renounced, for the love of Him, every- 
thing that was not He, and began to live for God 
alone. At all times even in the height of my busi- 
ness, I drove away from my mind everything that 
was capable of interrupting my thought of God. 
Our sanctification does not depend upon changing 
our works, but in doing that for God's sake, which 
we commonly do for our own. It is lamentable to 
see how many people mistake the means for the 
end, addicting themselves to certain works, which 
they perform very unperfectly, by reason of their 
humor or selfish regards. The most excellent 
method of going to God that I have found is 



124 CONSECRATION 

that of doing our common business without any 
view of pleasing men only (and, as far as we are 
capable,) purely for the love of God. 

"We ought not to be weary of doing little things 
for the love of God, who regards not the greatness 
of the work, but the love with which it is per- 
formed. We ought heartily, once for all, to put 
our whole trust in God, and make a total surrender 
of ourselves to Him. All things are possible to him 
who believes; they are less difficult to him who 
hopes, and more easy to him who loves, and easier 
still to him who perseveres in the practice of these 
three virtues. We should propose to ourselves to 
become, in this life, the most perfect worshipers of 
God we can possibly be, as we hope to be through 
all eternity." 

Again he says: ''After I made the complete sur- 
render to God, I found myself changed all at once ; 
and my soul, which, till that time, was in trouble, 
felt a profound inward peace, as if she were in her 
centre and place of rest. Ever since that time I 
walk before God, simply, in faith, with humility 
and with love; and I apply myself diligently to do 
nothing which may displease Him. In short, I am 
assured beyond all doubt that my soul has thus 
been consciously with God for these thirty years. 
I consider myself constantly before Him, whom I 
regard as my King. 

"1 have sinned against Him. I am unworthy. I 
cast myself upon His mercy. I trust in His love. 
I abandon myself in His hands. The King, full of 



CONSECRATION 125 

mercy and goodness, very far from chastising me, 
embraces me with love, makes me eat at His table, 
serves me with His own hands, gives me the key 
of His treasures; He converses and delights Him- 
self with me incessantly, in a thousand ways, and 
treats me in all respects as His favorite. 

"I find myself often attached to God with greater 
sweetness and delight than that of an infant in its 
mother's arms, so that, if I dare use the expression, 
I should choose to call this state the bosom of God, 
for the inexpressible sweetness which I taste and 
experience there. The communion of my soul with 
God often causes in me joys and raptures so great 
that I am forced to use means to moderate them 
and prevent their appearance to others." 

The writer says of him: "His example was 
stronger than his argument. His very countenance 
was edifying; such a sweet calm devotion appear- 
ing in it as could not but effect the beholders. And 
it was observed, that in the greatest hurry of busi- 
ness, he still preserved his recollection and heavenly 
mindedness. He was never hasty nor loitering, but 
did each thing in its season, with an even, unin- 
terrupted composure and tranquillity of spirit. He 
lived to a good old age. Among the last of his 
writings is the following letter to a friend: 

" 'Not to advance in the spiritual life is to go 
back. But those who have the gale of the Holy 
Spirit, go forward even in sleep. If the vessel of 
our soul is still tossed with winds and storms, let u§ 



126 CONSECRATION 

awake the Lord, who reposes in it, and He will 
quickly calm the sea. 

" *It pained me to hear of the great loss Mr. 

has sustained. Perhaps Mr. was too much at- 
tached to him he has lost. We ought to love our 
friends, but without encroaching upon the love of 
God, which must be the principal. 

" Tray remember what I have recommended to 
you, which is, to think often on God, by day, and 
by night, in your business and even in your diver- 
sions. He is always near you and with you; leave 
Him not alone. You would think it rude to leave 
a friend alone who came to visit you: why then 
must God be neglected? Do not then forget Him; 
but think on Him often, adore Him continually; 
this is the glorious employment of a Christian; in 
a word, this is our profession, if we do not know 
it, we must learn it. We have but little time to live, 
you are near sixty-four, and I am almost eighty. 
Let us live and die with God. Amen and Amen !' " 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE SWAN-SONG OF HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. 



THE OTHER WORLD. 

It lies around us like a cloud, 

A world we do not see; 
Yet the sweet closing of an eye 

May bring us there to be. 

Its gentle breezes fan our cheek, 

Amid our worldly cares, 
Its gentle voices whisper love. 

And mingles with our prayers. 

Sweet hearts around us throb and beat, 
Sweet helping hands are stirred, 

And palpitates the veil between 
With breathings almost heard. 

The silence — awful, sweet and calm, 
They have no power to break. 

For mortal words are not for them 
To utter or partake. 

So thin, so soft, so sweet they glide, 
So near to press they seem — 

They seem to lull us to our rest, 
And melt into our dream. 

And in the hush of rest they bring 

'Tis easy now to see 
How lovely and how sweet a pass 

The hour of death may be. 

(127) 



128 CONSECRATION 

To close the eye, and close the ear, 
Wrapped in a trance of bliss, 

And gently dream in loving arms 
To swoon to that from this. 

Scarce knowing if we wake or sleep. 
Scarce asking where we are. 

To feel all evil sink away 
All sorrow and all care. 

Sweet souls around us, watch us still, 

Press nearer to our side. 
Into our thoughts, into our prayers, 

With gentle helpings glide. 

Let death between us be as naught, 
A dried and vanished stream ; 

Your joy be the reality, 

Our suffering life the dream. 

— Harriet Beecher Stowe. 



CONSECRATION 129 



PERFECT REST AT LAST. 



(Experience of Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, as 
recorded by herself.) 

For some three or four years past there has been 
in my mind a subdued undercurrent of perplexity 
and unhappiness in regard to myself in my religious 
experience. I have often thought, when sitting by 
myself, ''Why am I thus restless? Why not at 
peace? I love God and Jesus Christ with a real 
and deep devotion; and in general I mean to con- 
form my life to Him. I am as consistent as many 
Christians — more; then why not satisfied?" 

I could conceive of a style of Christian devotion 
as much higher than my present point as my pres- 
ent position is above that of the world. I often 
saw, as by a dart of sunlight, that an entire identity 
of my will with God's would remove all disquiet, 
and give joy even to suffering; as says Paul: "Sor- 
rowful, yet always rejoicing." 

The m.ore I groaned in spirit, and longed and 
prayed, the more inveterate and determined and 
unsubdued seemed every opposing desire. The sen- 
sitive fear of blame, the ever-luring self-conscious 
desire of proving to myself and others that I was 
right, I perceived to be stronger and more efficient 
in me than the love of Christ, the fear of His 
opinion, and the desire of His will. 

"Am I then not a Christian?" thought I. Then 
why do I, why have I, loved Christ — loved Him 
so deeply, as I know I have; nay, as I know I dof 



130 CONSECRATION 

I cannot tell. I think I love him above all; yet 
certainly my will is, at best, only in a small degree 
subjected to His. "Well, then," I thought, ''if you 
see that entire union and identity of your will with 
Christ is the thing, why do you not have it? Just 
submit, give up all these separate interests. Unite 
your soul to Him in a common interest. Why not ?" 
Ah, why not? Words of deep meaning to every 
one who tries that vain experiment! Every effort 
breaks like a wave upon a rock. 

We reason, reflect, resolve, and pray, weep, strive, 
love — love to despair; and all in vain. In vain I 
adjured my soul. "Do you not love Christ? Why 
not, then, cut wholly loose from all these loves and 
take His will alone ? Is it not reasonable, since you 
can be blessed in no other way? What else can 
you do ?" Something said to me, "You are a Chris- 
tian, perhaps, but not a full one." "Learn of Me," 
said Christ, "and ye shall find rest." I do not find 
rest, consequently I do not learn of Him. I per- 
ceive that the New Testament ideal of a Christian 
was different from the higher than what I ever tried 
or purposed to be; that I was only trying at 
parts, and allowedly in some things living below. 
Nor did it comfort me at all to think that other 
Christians did so, and even good ones, too, for I 
remembered, "He that shall break one of these least 
commandments," etc. 

The question was distinctly proposed to me, "Will 
you undertake and make a solemn and earnest effort 
to realize the full ideal of Christ's plan, though not 



CONSECRATION 131 

one other Christian should?" The obstacles were 
many. 'It will do no good to try. With a lower 
standard have I striven, wept, prayed, despaired in 
vain; and shall I undertake this? I shall never do 
it." This was my discouragement. How can I see 
God clearer than I have seen Him? Can I ever be 
searched and penetrated and bowed by a deeper love 
than I have known, and which yet has been transient, 
has never wholly subdued me ? Can I make deeper, 
sincerer resolutions? No. Can I have more vivid 
views? No. What then?" I thought of this pas- 
sage: 'T will love Him, and my Father will love 
Him; and we will come unto Him, and make our 
abode with Him." 'That is it," I thought. "Christ 
has been with me by visits and intervals; this per- 
manent abode is what I have not known." 

Again, "Abide in Me and I in you" — steady, ever- 
present Christ within, who should exert an influence 
steady as the pulse of my soul. This I needed. I 
copied that class of texts; I prayed with prayer 
unceasing that Christ would realize them; I des- 
paired of bending my will ; I despaired of all former 
and all present efforts; but at His word I resolved 
to begin and go for the whole. As James and 
John : "He said unto them, 'Launch out now and 
let down the net.' They said unto Him, 'Master, 
we have toiled all night, and have taken nothing; 
nevertheless, at Thy word we will let down the net ; 
and lo! the net break with the multitude of fishes.' " 

What was the result? When self-despair was 
final, and I merely undertook at the word of Christ, 



132 CONSECRATION 

then came long-expected and wished-for help. All 
changed. Whereas once my heart ran with a strong 
current to the world, now it runs with a current the 
other way. What once it cost an effort to remem- 
ber, now it costs an effort to forget. The will of 
Christ seems to me the steady pulse of my being, 
and I go because I cannot help it. Skeptical doubt 
cannot exist. I seem to see the full blaze of the 
Shekinah everywhere. I am calm but full, every- 
where and in all things instructed, and find I can 
do all things through Christ. 

H. B. S. 

While she was in school, and about fourteen years 
of age, she read Baxter's "Saint's Rest." She was 
powerfully affected by it, and the impressions then 
made on her tender and plastic mind were never 
after effaced. God was preparing her for the great 
work that lay before her. 

It was while her father was president of Lane 
Theological Seminary in Cincinnati that she mar- 
ried Calvin E. Stowe, a young widower, and one of 
the professors of the institute. Her husband was, 
at that time, as she said, "rich in Greek and Hebrew, 
Latin and Arabic, and alas! rich in nothing else." 
One of her friends said, "Life became a hard strug- 
gle with poverty and sorrow." Among her writings 
we find she wrote from her heart ^'Earthly Care a 
Heavenly Discipline.'' 

Her trust in God gave her patient endurance. 
The more the diamond is cut, the brighter it spar- 
kles. Paul not only patiently endured the severe 



CONSECRATION 133 

trials that came to him, but he tells us he "glories 
in tribulation also, knowing that tribulation worketh 
patience, and patience experience, and experience 
hope, and hope maketh not ashamed because the 
love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the 
Holy Ghost which is given unto us." So Mrs. 
Stowe gained spiritual strength from these ''Earthly 
Cares" and trials. 

"Uncle Tom's Cabin" — which was translated into 
a score of languages, and produced such tremendous 
effects — helping to break the shackles from three 
millions of human beings, was written in the same 
spirit of consecration to Christ — perfect love to 
God — and love to all humanity. One writer says, 
"Most prominent among its characteristics was 
noted its thoroughly Christian atmosphere. She 
retained the clear witness of sanctifying grace 
throughout her entire life." 

In the year 1887 she wrote a letter to a friend, 
containing the following: 

"I am coming to that stage of my pilgrimage that 
is within sight of the river of death, and I feel that 
now I must have all in readiness, day and night, for 
the messenger of the King. I have sometimes in 
my sleep strange perceptions of a vivid spiritual life 
near to and with Christ and the multitude of holy 
ones, and the joy of it is like no other joy; it can- 
not be told in the language of the world. What I 
have, then, I know with absolute certainty; yet it 



134 CONSECRATION 

is so unlike and above anything we conceive of in 
this world that it is difficult to put it into words. 

"The inconceivable loveliness of Christ ! It seems 
that about Him there is a sphere where the enthu- 
siasm of love is the calm habit of the soul, that 
without words, without the necessity of demonstra- 
tions of afifection, we respond to the infinite love, 
and we, feel His answer in us, and there is no need 
of words." 

Harriet Beecher Stowe. 

She told the story and the whole world wept 

At wrongs and cruelties it had not known 
But for this fearless woman's voice alone. 

She spoke to consciences that long had slept; 
Her message, freedom's clear reveille swept 

From heedless hovel to complacent throne, 
Command and prophecy were in the tone. 

And from its sheath the sword of justice leapt, 
Around two peoples swelled a fiery wave. 

But both came forth transfigured from the flame. 
Blest be the hand that dared be strong to save. 

And blest be she who in our weakness came — 
Prophet and priestess ! At one stroke she gave 

A race to freedom and herself to fame. 

— Paul Lawrence Dunbar, in The Century. 



CHAPTER X. 

LETTER FROM REV. DR. DANIEL STEEL. 

Mrs. Mary Sparkes Wheeler: 

My Sister in Christ: You are attempting a 
good service to our common Master by subpoenaing 
to the witness-stand living witnesses that the blood 
of Jesus Christ can make the believing soul whiter 
than snow. Dead men cannot be cross-examined, 
but the living can be, and they can be watched to 
see whether the life corroborates the lips. Having 
published so much respecting my own experience, I 
have of late been tempted to abstain lest some may 
attribute to me motives of spiritual pride in assum- 
ing that I was of so much importance that all the 
world will be interested in my words. To this 
suggestion I reply that while it is of the least im- 
portance that my name should be known by men, 
it is of the greatest possible interest to the whole 
world to know what the adorable Savior can do for 
men in this life. 

To make this known there must be testimony, 
and since anonymous testimony is worthless, the 
(135) 



136 CONSECRATION 

name of the witness must be attached to his affi- 
davit. So I take up my pen again to aver out of 
my own joyful experience, that the doctrine of 
entire sanctification as taught by Paul and Wesley 
is eminently practical, and that John's teachings 
respecting Christian perfection, or the perfect love 
which casteth out all tormenting fear, presents an 
experience intensely real, and not merely ideal, as 
some annotators say. 

How thick the veil before my eyes must have 
been, that I should live forty-six years with the 
New Testament in my hands before I made the 
discovery of a truth which lies open on every page ! 
But my vision was not anointed. There are truths 
which transcend both the understanding and reason. 
These are unveiled only by the Paraclete whose 
office it is to reveal the Son of God in the con- 
sciousness of the full believer. "He shall testify 
of Me, he shall take of mine and shall show it 
unto you, he shall glorify Me." 

In what I call my prepentecostal Christian life, 
I loved Jesus Christ as a distant historical character 
with whom I had very little personal acquaintance. 
His manifestations to me were like His appearance 
to the disciples during the forty days before His 
ascension — belief, unsatisfying, and at long inter- 
vals, leaving large spaces for doubt. He did not 
abide with me ; much less did He abide in me. But 
during the last twelve years He has been an ever- 
present unspeakably joyful presence in the very care 



CONSECRATION 137 

of my being, my inmost consciousness. I know 
Him as I knew no other being. His Spirit has 
interpenetrated mine, making a duaHty next in mys- 
tery to the Holy Trinity. 

H any one seeks to depreciate this experience by 
stigmatizing it as mere mysticism, he will fail to 
detract from its ineffable blessedness. The rose of 
Sharon, blooming ever within my soul, is just as 
sweet under any other name. This is by no means 
a stationary state. It is a constant and rapid 
growth in spiritual stature. It is a series of divine 
manifestations each more precious and wonderful 
than the last. 



"O Jesus, Jesus, sweetest Lord! 

What art Thou not to me? 
Each hour brings joy before unknown, 
Each day new liberty!" 



Why should it be incredible that perfect love, pure 
love with no alloy should increase on earth and 
evermore in heaven? A Rocky Mountain spring 
may send forth its streamlet of perfectly pure water 
which may increase till it becomes the majestic 
Mississippi. 



'Like a river glorious 

Is God's perfect peace, 
Over all victorious 

In its bright increase. 
Perfect — yet it floweth 

Fuller every day. 
Perfect — yet it groweth 

Deeper all the way." 



138 CONSECRATION 

This poetry of the sainted Miss Havergal is the 
joyous outgush of a soul "lifted into the sunshine" 
of perfect love; it is the testimony of every one 
who has lost self and found God. The same pen 
more perfectly portrays my daily experience: 



"The fullness of His blessing encompasseth our way; 
The fullness of His promise crowns every brightening day; 
The fullness of His glory is beaming from above, 
While more and more we realize the fullness of His love." 



If asked to specify the points of difference between 
justification, experimentally, not theologically, I 
would say that the first saved me from sinning, the 
second from sin. The first created hunger, the 
second brought fullness. The first admitted doubt, 
the second, excluding it, brought in assurance. The 
first was a state of inward conflict, the second is 
a state of undisturbed peace. The first was a life 
of glimpses and partial seeing, the second is the 
noontide of spiritual vision. The first was darkened 
with clouds of fear, painful fear of death, fore- 
bodings of future ill and a slavish fear of God, the 
second casts out tormenting fear and bolts the door 
so strongly that it cannot return. 

"I cannot fear thee, blessed will! 
Thine empire is so sweet !" 

The king of terrors has been discrowned and 
made to wear the livery of my adorable Lord Jesus, 
meekly doing service as a janitor, opening the gates 
of pearl to His friends. I have tested this precious 



CONSECRATION 139 

grace in health and in years of nervous prostration, 
in my quiet home, on the ocean wave and climbing 
the Alps in quest of restored vigor, and I have found 
it everywhere and always the same. It is durable 
and portable. Reader, if it is not yours, seek it 
till you find it. It is your rightful heritage in 
Christ's name. 

Daniel Steel. 



140 CONSECRATION 

LETTER FROM DREW THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
D. S. SPENCER. 

(At the time of the writing of this letter, Rev. 
Dr. D. S. Spencer was a student in Drew Theologi- 
cal Seminary. After graduation he went to Japan 
as a missionary. He has been one of the most suc- 
cessful missionaries ever sent to that land, and has 
done much to establish Christianity in the Empire.) 

Madison, N. J. 

Mrs. Mary Sparkes Wheeler: 

My DEAR Sister in Christ : I want to tell you a 
little news which will cause you to rejoice in the 
Lord. I came here from our camp-meeting in 
Dinock, Pa., dissatisfied with my Christian experi- 
ence, and determined to plead with God till I felt 
myself saved from all sin. I believed that I was a 
Christian. I knew I was, and I was just as thor- 
oughly convinced that the Bible teaches that we 
must get rid of the roots of bitterness, and be saved 
from inbred sin. 

I had, at first, no one to sympathize with me, or 
help me in any way. A few days after the opening, 
there came a brother who had experienced perfect 
love, and he gave me encouragement and help by 
telling me his experience, and by pointing out the 
way. 

I struggled on until October 8, when between ten 
and twelve o'clock P, M., in this same brother's 



CONSECRATION 141 

room, after a day of darkness and much earnest 
prayer, God let the light of full salvation into my 
soul, so that I knew it, as well as did the brethren 
in adjoining rooms. Since then I have had perfect 
victory. I am in the "land of corn and wine." I 
know this, for all my night has passed away. I am 
now enabled to realize what Paul means in Gal. 
11-20: "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless, I 
live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me : and the life 
which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of 
the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself 
for me." But this is not all ; indeed, it was but the 
commencement of better days in Drew. It was but 
a few days before the Lord saw fit to bring some 
who had laughed at me to experience the same 
saving power. From one to another the truth ran. 
But the great victory came last evening. 

We have been holding half-hour prayer meetings 
each evening this term at 6.30 P. M. Last evening 
we met as usual before the hour for church. The 
meeting for twenty minutes was nothing unusual, 
but then the saving power of God began to be 
manifest. One after another gained the victory. 
Such praying, such shouting, such singing, I have 
never before heard. Some were shaken like leaves 
before a tempest. The tongues of some were un- 
loosed and passages of Scripture seemed to come 
as if by inspiration. Some lay prostrate, wholly 
unconscious of surroundings. A brother would be- 
^in to plead earnestly with God for the descent of 



142 CONSECRATION 

the Holy Spirit upon himself and in perhaps two 
minutes the victory would be gained. 

There were but two exceptions to this rule. One 
was that of a brother T., who is a Congregation- 
alist — a man of very cool temperament, but when 
God saved him fully last evening, he stood with 
hands uplifted toward Heaven, and sang at the top 
of his voice: 

"All hail the power of Jesus' name ! 
Let angels prostrate fall ; 
Bring forth the royal diadem, 
And crown him Lord of all!" 

The other was a young brother N., who had a 
stubborn will to overcome. He struggled for hours 
before he could surrender all. I never saw greater 
agony of soul, but when the victory did come, every 
one in the building knew it. Every man who came 
to the meeting stayed all through it, and who had 
not previously received the blessing was baptized 
before he left. Ten were added to our number last 
night ; making, thus far, fifteen whom God hath seen 
fit to save with full salvation through the riches of 
His grace in Christ Jesus. For this wonderful out- 
pouring we give God all the glory. 

Most of this forenoon has been spent in meetings 
of prayer and praise. Brother H. is an orphan boy, 
began his education as a canal driver, became a 
Roman Catholic and a rum seller. Went to college 
with scarce money enough to pay for getting the 
trunk carried to his room. He has worked his way 
to this point, and when saved last night lifted his 



CONSECRATION 143 

only hand toward Heaven and shouted, ''Glory to 
God! Doubting Thomas, the poor orphan boy, the 
canal hand, the Roman Catholic, the rum seller, has 
received the Holy Ghost!" 

It seems to me, Sister Wheeler, that this thing has 
some significance. This is Drew Theological Sem- 
inary. These brethren are mostly, or many of them, 
college-bred men. It has happened on the Sabbath 
day, when we were in a little upper room, with one 
accord in one place. Surely this is the Lord's 
doings, and it is marvelous in our eyes. We are 
praying, and trusting, and expecting more of our 
students to enter into this perfect rest. Pray for 
Drew, and do not cease to bear before the throne. 

Your Brother in Christ, 

D. S. Spencer. 



144 CONSECRATION 

REPLY TO D. S. S. 

My dear Brother in Christ : Your letter inter- 
ested me much. As a cherished friend of former 
days — as an ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ — 
as a young student studying to show himself ap- 
proved unto God — a workman who needeth not to 
be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, I 
can but feel a peculiar interest in you, and rejoice 
when I learn of your progress intellectually and 
spiritually. 

The joyful news contained in your letter filled 
me with gratitude to God that in Drew Theological 
Seminary He has led the young men who are pre- 
paring to preach the word of life to a lost world, 
to this entire consecration; and baptized so many 
of them with the Holy Spirit. I rejoice with you, 
dear brother, that you have entered this highway of 
holiness, and that trusting in Christ, you are enabled 
to say: 

*"Tis done, Thou dost this moment save, 
With full salvation bless; 
Redemption through thy blood I have 
And spotless love and peace." 

How I should like to have been with you, at that 
wonderful meeting, when salvation's tide rolled in 
upon you, and the students, so many of them, one 
by one, each for himself, fully surrendered all to 
Christ, and 

"Plunged into the purple flood 
To rise in all the life of God." 



CONSECRATION 145 

That was a day which you will never forget through 
time, nor in eternity. 

Your experience is much like my own. I remem- 
ber as distinctly as if it were but yesterday, my 
feelings when I reached this Beulah land. What 
sympathy was there between my Divine Lord and 
myself! How heartily I entered into his plans, as 
I understood them, for the evangelization of the 
world, and the salvation of sinners ! How my heart 
yearned with unutterable longings for the sanctifi- 
cation of believers, and for the baptism of fire to 
fall upon the entire church of God! Oh, what 
humility was mine, what self-abnegation, what a 
sinking into Christ ! 

And when the angel of the covenant touched my 
lips with living fire, what a change was wrought 
in me ! / who was afraid of the sound of my own 
voice; so timid, so shrinking, who had felt myself 
to be weakness personified, was now upheld by 
Omnipotent power. The word of the Lord was 
like fire shut up in my bones. I was weary with 
refraining, and to every call of the Spirit I re- 
sponded: "Here am I, Lord, send me." 

I had been in attendance upon a camp-meeting, 
and as I emerged from the grove, and looked out 
upon the varied landscape with hill and dale, moun- 
tain and river, the earth seemed illuminated with 
Divine Light; and with a heart filled with wonder, 
love, and praise, I could but exclaim: ''Oh, this 
beautiful world !" The very air seemed laden with 
the breath of God, and the perfumes of Paradise. 



146 CONSECRATION 

The fleecy clouds seemed like the chariots of the 
white-robed angels of peace, and as the trees tossed 
their branches to the sky, they seemed to be clap- 
ping their hands, and waving their hallelujahs to 
God, and the Lamb ! 

But we cannot always remain on these mountains 
of transfiguration. We must come down to labor 
and toil, to meet with the temptation and trial, but 
though amid life's conflicts our joy not always 
ecstatic, it is our privilege ahvays to abide in Christ. 
And if we thus dwell in Him, and walk in the light, 
as God is in the light, "we have fellowship one with 
the other, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, 
cleanseth us from all sin." Not can cleanse, or 
will cleanse, but cleanseth. I thank God for that 
word! Now, in the present tense. The blood 
cleanseth us from all sin. All glory to the dying 
Lamb. 

While reading your letter one thought impressed 
me deeply, that of personal influence, and indi- 
vidual responsibility. At first you alone felt the 
need of this blessing, and resolved to seek it. You 
had no one to sympathize with you, no one to help 
you, but he who has promised that those who seek 
shall find, sent the needed help; and as God an- 
swered prayer, and opened the windows of heaven 
and poured you out a blessing, others were con- 
victed and sought for the same fullness. Thus the 
holy fire kept spreading until this glorious revival 
of which you speak was brought about, and the 
records of eternity alone will reveal the amount of 



CONSECRATION 147 

good accomplished through your perseverance in 
seeking for this baptism of power. I know, though 
you were the instrument God used, you do give Him 
the glory, and from the fullness of your heart are 
saying, ''Unto Him who hath washed us in His own 
blood, to Him be glory and honor, dominion and 
power, forever and ever. Amen!" 

I am glad that these institutions hold the truth 
in its purity; and that the students are arming 
themselves with the panoply of God, and wielding 
the sword of the Spirit as the unfailing weapon 
with which to beat back the enemies of truth and 
righteousness. The weapons of our warfare are 
not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling 
down of the strongholds. 

Another thought that impressed me was this: 
When you received the Holy Spirit "others knew 
it." By your shouts of victory, and songs of praise, 
by the gladness of your hearts, by the joy that 
shone upon your faces, you proclaimed what great 
things God had done for you. I believe God was 
glorified by this demonstration. The tendency of 
the age, in religious gatherings, is to suppress and 
conceal all emotion, and to regard the exhibition of 
it as an evidence of weakness, or lack of culture. 
While we would guard against fanaticism, or relig- 
ious cant, we would encourage fervor and enthu- 
siasm in the worship of God. 

On the day of Pentecost, when all the followers 
of Christ were filled with the Holy Ghost and began 
to speak as the Spirit gave them utterance, the 



I4« CONSECRATION 

news was ''noised abroad/' and multitudes came 
together and were amazed and marveled at what 
they saw and heard, and the result was the con- 
version of three thousand souls. 

The representation of the heavenly worshipers as 
given in the word of God, is enthusiastic. John, 
the Revealer, said : "After this I beheld, and, lo, a 
great multitude which no man could number, of all 
nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, 
stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, 
clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands, 
and cried with a loud voice, saying, 'Salvation to 
our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto 
the Lamb.' " "And all the angels stood round about 
the throne, and about the elders and the four living 
creatures, and fell before the throne on their faces, 
and worshiped God, saying, 'Amen: Blessing and 
glory and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and 
power, and might, be unto our God forever and 
ever. Amen !' " 

Isaiah, also, saw the Lord sitting upon a throne 
high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 
Above it stood the Seraphim, each one had six 
wings; with twain he covered his face, and with 
twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did 
fly. And one cried unto another, and said, 'Holy, 
holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth 
is full of His glory.' *' 



CONSECRATION 149 

Perhaps some will say ''This is figurative, and 
not a representation of earthly worshipers. God 
is a spirit and must be worshiped in spirit, not in 
outward signs and demonstrations; and they will 
quote the verse so often sung : 

"Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, 
Uttered, or unexpressed. 
The motion of a hidden fire 
That trembles in the breast." 

This is true, and God will never quench the hidden 
fire, or the smoking flax; but if the fire continues 
to bum, it will burst forth into a mighty flame, and 
can no longer be hidden. The fire of Divine Love 
is an all-consuming element, and it will 



'Burn up the dross of base desire 
And make the mountains flow." 



I am glad that the fountain opened for us is 
sufficient for the cleansing of the entire human 
family. Our Father is no respecter of persons, and 
we are commissioned to go into all the world and 
preach this gospel to every creature. Not only to 
the learned and the virtuous, but also to the igno- 
rant, the vicious, the degraded, and the abandoned. 
Oh, for the power of the Holy Ghost that will send 
us gladly down if need be, to the very lowest depths 
of degradation, superstition, and wretchedness to 
rescue souls for whom Jesus died! Yes! going 
down after them to bring them up and prepare 



ISO CONSECRATION 

them to shine as jewels in the Savior's crown. "He 
that winneth souls is wise." Lord give us this 
wisdom ! 

Praying that the God of peace, who has sanctified 
you wholly, may preserve you blameless, I am, 
Yours in Christ, 

M. S. W. 



CHAPTER XL 

EXPERIENCE OF THE AUTHOR^ MARY SPARKES 
WHEELER. 

(First published in Forty Witnesses: G. O. 
Garrison.) 

I was born in England, near Tientern Abbey. 
At the age of six years I came with my family to 
America. My parents were devoted Christians, 
and spared no pains to train me up in the nurture 
and admonition of the Lord. Since my earliest 
recollection I have never passed a day without 
prayer, but it was not always the prayer of faith 
that brought salvation, for I often felt the burden 
of sin and condemnation on my heart. 

When eight years of age I was once playing 
"class-meeting" during recess at school. I was 
leader. All passed off joyfully until a little girl, 
younger than myself, arose to speak. She seemed 
to take the matter all in earnest, and said with 
trembling voice, as the tears rolled down her cheeks, 
"I am not as good as I ought to be. I sometimes 
do wrong and disobey my mamma. Pray for me 

(151) 



152 CONSECRATION 

that I may be forgiven." Suddenly my own heart 
began to ache. I thought, "If that little innocent 
girl needs pardon how much more do I." The 
meeting closed and I started for home. 

When I supposed myself to be entirely alone, 
out of sight and hearing, I wept aloud. A gentle- 
man, until then unobserved by me, passed, and said 
in pitying tones : 

"What's the matter, little girl?" 

I made no reply. I did not stop until I reached 
my own little room, and falling upon my knees, 
with a broken and contrite heart I prayed earnestly 
for pardon. God heard my prayer. 

"He spake at once my sins forgiven 
And gave me glory, peace and heaven." 

That night, young as I was, I could scarcely sleep 
for joy. I believe I was then converted, and had 
I told my parents and availed myself of the counsel 
and aid they would so gladly have given, I might 
have walked in the light from that time until the 
present. But I did not understand that I was old 
enough to be a Christian; did not hold fast where- 
unto I had attained, and soon relapsed into my 
former state. 

As years passed I drank into the spirit of the 
world, and it was not until I was fourteen years 
of age that I made up my mind, after a great 
struggle, to give my heart to Christ and become a 
Christian. At that time I was powerfully convicted 
of sin. I tried to quench the Spirit, I was away 



CONSECRATION 153 

from home attending school, but my heart was so 
overwhelmed with a sense of my sins and my need 
of a Savior that I could neither eat nor sleep. 

One day I tried in vain to commit my lessons to 
memory, and asked the teacher to excuse me. I 
went to my seat and with my head in my hands, 
entirely oblivious to all that was passing around me, 
I promised God if he would spare me until a certain 
quarterly meeting, which was to be held some miles 
away, in about six months from that time, I would 
attend it and there seek Christ. 

My heart grew calm, and I pursued my studies 
without anxiety until the Friday preceeding the 
meeting. Then came a great conflict with the adver- 
sary. I thought, "To-morrow I am to seek God." 
The tempter said: **You are too young to begin 
now! All the other students, with few exceptions, 
are attending dancing school, getting ready to enjoy 
life. You are cutting yourself off from all that is 
desirable in the future." 

"But I promised God, and I must." 

"You cannot, because you have no feeling now. 
You must wait until you feel as deeply as before." 

"I promised I would wait no longer, and I must 
seek now/' 

Thus the controversy continued until my head 
began to ache. Wishing in some way to calm my 
troubled mind, I took a magazine from the shelf, 
intending for a time to change the subject by reading 



154 CONSECRATION 

some entertaining story. I opened it, and the first 
words my eye rested upon were these : 

"If now you're convinced, O yieid to conviction! 

Resolve to be God's in the strength of His grace, 
E'en now he beholds you with tender affection 
And you as His child He longs to embrace." 

Affrighted, I threw the book from me. A trembling 
seized me. I fell upon my knees and said : 

*'0, Lord, it is enough ! I will keep my promise. 
I will attend the meeting and acknowledge myself 
a seeker." 

I did so. When at the close of the Saturday 
evening meeting the presiding elder asked those 
who desired to become Christians to arise, I arose 
alone in the great congregation. I was so young 
that my rising attracted no attention, and called 
forth no remark or prayer, but when I reached my 
place of entertainment, in company with my own 
pastor's wife, she proposed prayer for me, and her- 
self offered a fervent petition for the "dear child 
who had resolved to remember her Creator in the 
days of her youth." 

I did not experience any change in my mind 
during the meetings that followed, and returned on 
Monday morning disheartened — disappointed. Now 
the enemy renewed his attack, and said: 

*'You put it off too long, and God has turned 
away from you, for is it not written, 'Because I 
have called and ye have refused, I have stretched 
out my hand and no man regarded ; I also will laugh 
at your calamity and mock when your fear cometh ; 



CONSECRATION 155 

then shall they seek Me early but shall not find 
Me ?' " Nearly a week passed away, bringing no re- 
lief to my heart, but I determined that I would never 
cease seeking until I had found Christ. 

Desiring uninterrupted communion with God, I 
entered a little grove nearby, and kneeling by a 
moss-covered log, I prayed earnestly for pardon. 
I tried to repeat God's promises to penitents, and 
while thus engaged hope sprang into my heart, and 
I began to believe that mercy could reach even me, 
and amid my tears I said : 

"Here Lord I give myself away! 
'Tis all that I can do." 

The burden of condemnation rolled away, and I 
was freely pardoned. When I reached home the 
sun was gilding the west with radiance and glory; 
so the Sun of my soul seemed to be flooding my 
heart with light and peace. It was not a rapturous 
joy, but peace like a river, continually growing 
wider and deeper. My experience was clear and 
definite. I knew that I had passed from death unto 
life, and the "joy this blessed assurance gives," 
dwelt in my soul continually. 

I continued to walk in the light. I had an ardent 

desire to live a deeply spiritual life. To be merely 

an "acceptable member of the Church," was not 

enough. I resolved that I would take for my motto 

this verse : 

"Be as holy and as happy 

And as useful here below 
As it is your Father's pleasure — 
Jesus, only Jesus, know." 

I did grow in grace, but the progress I made seemed 



156 CONSECRATION 

very slow and unsatisfactory. I was constantly 
struggling against inbred sin. The carnal mind 
would assert itself, and with tears and self-abase- 
ment I was often led to cry, *'I am carnal, sold 
under sin." "For I know that in me, that is, in my 
flesh, dwelleth no good thing, for to will is present 
with me, but how to perform that which is good I 
find not." "For the good that I would, I do not, 
but the evil which I would not, that I do." "Now, 
if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do 
it, but sin that dwelleth in me." I resolved in the 
strength of grace that I would be made "free from 
the law of sin and death." I said, "O ! Jesus, if 
Thou canst do the work, let it be done quickly, 
instantaneously!" And I began to seek earnestly 
for entire santification. 

Time would fail me in telling of the conflicts 
with the powers of darkness, the struggles of my 
soul in trying, in some way, to free itself from the 
body of this death before sin and self were aban- 
doned and the heart was unconditionally surren- 
dered to Christ. I sought earnestly for months. 
My anxiety was so great that at times I was almost 
overwhelmed. My conviction was much deeper 
than that preceeding conversion. I wept, fasted, 
prayed, consecrated and humbled myself before the 
Lord over and over again. I would have given life 
itself to have secured the blessing. Often amid 
tears I sang: 

"I thirst, thou wounded Lamb of God, 
To wash me in Thy cleansing blood. 
To dwell within Thy wounds, then pain 
Is sweet, or life, or death is gain," 



CONSECRATION 157 

Blessed be God ! The fountain was open ! Christ 
was more willing to bestow than I was to re- 
ceive, but I did not understand the way to faith. 
I was young, less than sixteen years of age, had 
never heard a sermon on the subject, had read but 
little, did not know where to procure the helps I 
needed. I reversed God's order. I said, "I must 
know and feel that the work is done before I be- 
lieve it. 

To be sanctified wholly is a great blessing, and 
my joy must be correspondingly great, and until I 
have a joy unspeakable and full of glory I will not 
believe. Thus I lingered, and could not enter in 
because of unbelief. At times I was tempted to 
regret that I had ever heard of the doctrine, for 
before this I was happy in the enjoyment of justi- 
fying grace. Now I had come up to the Red Sea 
of difficulty. I had received the command "Go 
forward!" To retreat must be spiritual death. 
How to go forward I did not know. But God, who 
divided the Red Sea, opened the way for me also. 

One day I went to a prayer meeting, hoping to 
hear something on the subject that would help me, 
and bring relief to my mind, but was disappointed. 
As I was returning home, bearing on my heart a 
burden that seemed unendurable, I prayed earnestly 
to God for help. While passing a house, a lady 
with whom I was only slightly acquainted, and who 
knew nothing of the state of my mind, called to 
me, saying: 



158 CONSECRATION 

"I have a little book here which perhaps you may 
like to read." 

"What is it ?" I earnestly inquired. 

"I do not know/' she replied, "I have not read 
it, but I know it is good, because my friend, Mrs. A., 
who lives in New York, sent it to me, and just as 
you came in sight the thought occured to me that 
you had so much more leisure than I it would 
be well for you to read it first." 

I opened the book. It was entitled: "A Present 
to My Christian Friend" by Mrs. Phoebe Palmer, 
In it the author plainly describes the way of faith. 
I went to my room, and falling upon my knees 
before God, I read every word before rising. O, 
what a feast to my hungry soul ! Every question 
that had perplexed me was satisfactorily answered, 
every difficulty removed. Presenting myself to 
Christ was such a reasonable sacrifice, and after 
doing this, it was so easy to reckon myself dead 
indeed unto sin and alive unto God. 

If an angel had come down from heaven and 
handed me the book I could not have believed more 
fully that God sent it to me. Now the mystery 
vanished and the simplicity of faith amazed me, and 
in the calmness of that hour I took Jesus as my 
complete Savior from all sin. There was no rap- 
turous joy at first, but the burden was gone. The 
"man of sin" was cast out, and Christ had entire 
possession, while a peace which passeth all under- 
standing seemed to permeate my entire being. That 
night I dreamed that in company with a friend, who 



CONSECRATION 159 

had but a few weeks before entered into this per- 
fect peace, I was walking on a narrow strip of land 
*'twixt two unbounded seas," when suddenly a cy- 
clone or storm of wind arose. I looked at my 
friend. It did not disturb her — it did not even 
move the folds of her dress — while I was powerless 
before it. It lifted me from earth and was bearing 
me out to the ocean. I caught hold of the branches 
of a tree that overhung the water, but they began 
to bend and break. I thought, ''I shall surely 
be drowned in the depths of the sea." In my 
anguish I cried: "Lord, increase my faith! Lord, 
increase my faith !" Immediately the branches broke, 
but instead of sinking I began to rise, and with 
nothing but the ocean beneath me, and the sky above 
me, I floated outward and upward, nearer and 
nearer to God, while my soul was filled with in- 
effable glory. In a few moments I was awakened 
by my sainted mother, who said: 

"What is the matter? Do you know you were 
making a noise ? You were shouting 'Glory !' at the 
top of your voice." 

"It was only a dream, dear mother, but God has 
been teaching me wondrously to-day, and to-night 
he is teaching me to let go of every earthly support 
and by simple faith alone launch out into the ocean 
of His infinite love." 

I rested here for about two weeks, when one day 
the Holy Spirit whispered: "They overcame by 
the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testi- 



160 CONSECRATION 

mony. You have believed and received, now con- 
fess Him." The enemy said : 

''Will you dare profess that you are perfect in 
love when you have no evidence, only the word?" 

I said, "Yes! I know by faith I know. God's 
word is more reliable than my emotions; when I 
have a favorable opportunity I will tell to the glory 
of God what He has done for me." 

A few days after, while seated at the tea table 
with a company of Christians, a clergyman said 
to me: 

"My young sister, have you ever reached the 
point where you felt that you could claim Christ as 
your Savior from all sin? Do you love God su- 
premely ?" 

T replied : "I trust I have. I hope I do." Instantly 
the Spirit seemed to say : 

"That is not definite. That does not glorify me. 
You said you knew by faith. Tell them so." 

I said so loud that all could hear me: "Yes, I 
know that Jesus saves me from all sin. I do love 
God with all my heart f' 

No sooner had I uttered the words than I felt a 
strength imparted that I had never before ex- 
perienced. That evening the pastor called upon me 
to pray audibly. My voice had never before been 
heard in so public a place, but while lifting my heart 
and voice to Christ the Holy Ghost fell upon me, 
and I was lost in wonder, love and praise. 



CONSECRATION 161 

For months that followed I seemed to be in a 
new world. My heart was filled to overflowing 
with joy, and the whole earth seemed flooded with 
the glory of God. My will was the will of my 
Lord, and my highest joy came in doing what I 
conceived to be his will. I knew the cleansing blood 
had been applied. My soul was burning with the 
desire for the sanctification of the entire Church. 
It was no longer a cross to profess purity of heart, 
but I found great joy and satisfaction in urging all 
with whom I came in contact, who had given their 
names to the Church, to plunge into the purple 
flood and rise in all the life of God. 

I would mention some of my difliculties and 
triumphs in becoming established in holiness. With 
humiliation I recall many lapses, with gratitude 
the forbearance and long suffering of the Holy 
Spirit. The lapses came in neglecting to testify to 
this saving grace. In my earlier experience the 
enemy would sometimes suggest that as so many 
in the Church were older and wiser, and richer in 
Christian grace than myself, at whose feet I could 
sit and learn of Jesus, and they did not profess this 
blessing, therefore, it would be immodest for me to 
say much about it ; that I could live it, and the life 
would testify sufficiently without words. 

As often as I yielded to this suggestion I lost 
ground in a measure and was shorn of my strength, 
and I have learned by experience that I must not 
only believe in my heart, but also confess with my 



162 CONSECRATION 

mouth this uttermost salvation. Many years have 
passed since I entered this blessed "Beulah land." 
God has kept me by His power, not stationary, but 
constantly advancing from grace to grace, and from 
glory to glory, until often in amazement my soul 
cries out, "My Lord and my God!" 

"If our love were but more simple, 

We should take Him at His word, 
And our lives would be all sunshine, 
In the sweetness of our Lord." 



CHAPTER XII. 

EXPERIENCE OF MRS. MARY GRANT CRAMER. 

Sister of President U. S. Grant. 

(Mrs. Cramer was for several years my assistant 
in the Mothers' Meetings, held at Ocean Grove, N. J. 
The meetings were public, and largely attended, 
and her Bible readings, and other exercises were 
highly appreciated and helpful. We copy the first 
stanza of her favorite song.) 

"Lead, kindly light, amid th' encircling gloom, 

Lead thou me on! 
The night is dark and I am far from home; 

Lead thou me on ! 
Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see 
The distant scene, one step's enough for me." 

Dear Mrs. Wheeler: 

Your kind note, asking that I send you some of 
my experience for your new book, has just reached 
me. I confess that I shrink a little in sending such 
a reply as you desire, because I think it is an un- 
merited honor for some of my experience to have 
a place in the book that you are engaged in writing. 
I would gladly pen something for it, if by so doing 
I could magnify the name of Him who redeemed me. 

(163) 



164 CONSECRATION 

"The fear of the Lord was the beginning of wis- 
dom/' with me ; reading Sunday School books made 
a wholesome but transient impression upon my 
youthful mind. My thoughts wandered so during 
preaching, even after I was grown to maturity, 
that I was often conscious smitten when reflecting 
upon the sad fact that I profited but little by the 
sermons I heard. 

My reticence upon religious topics was one of 
many objections I had to becoming a Christian; 
fearing that if I did God would require me to urge 
the unconverted to seek their souls' salvation. In 
the summer of '62, I deliberately resolved to seek 
this blessing, and to gain the witness, if possible, 
that my sins were forgiven, and my God reconciled, 
fearing it would be forever too late if postponed any 
longer. Soon after this I came under deep con- 
viction at a camp meeting near Cincinnati, Ohio; 
and for eight months I daily sought the forgiveness 
of my sins, in the meantime confining my reading 
almost entirely to religious literature. 

My Bible and Methodist hymn book were my 
chief companions. I united with the Methodist 
Church at the age of fourteen years ; this had a re- 
straining influence on me. Having often to assist 
in entertaining visitors at my father's house who 
were silent upon religious subjects was a hindrance 
to my conversion; but through the mercy of God 
this blessed event occured the following spring. 

On the morning of April 27th I awoke to the 
joyful consciousness that I was indeed a new crea- 



CONSECRATION 165 

ture in Christ Jesus. That was the happiest day I 
had ever known. I was amazed at the change in 
myself, and went on my way rejoicing for three 
months, trying daily to do something for the glory 
of God. This made me appear peculiar in the eyes 
of some of my friends, and hearing that a lady was 
afraid to visit us lest I should speak to her in regard 
to her spiritual welfare, I felt grieved, and concluded 
to act more as professing Christians usually did. 
Fatal resolution ! It cost me my happiness and com- 
munion with God, but months later both were 
restored. 

A season of sunshine and shadows followed, but 
the shadows predominated. Far too much of the 
old self remained for me to be a consistent Chris- 
tian. This character was still harder for me to 
maintain in Germany, where my husband resided 
for three years in an official capacity. But one night 
while visiting in Bremen, God spoke a prophetic 
sentence to my soul that deeply impressed and com- 
forted me. I remained under the quickening influ- 
ence of this impression till after my return to 
America; but a few years later I needed another 
quickening and received it while visiting my parents. 
The same year I returned to my husband in Den- 
mark, where we resided for many years, surrounded 
by deadening influences, for the world hemmed us 
in closely on all sides. 

Deprived of the privileges of the sanctuary, and 
rarely meeting among the titled aristocracy, with 
whom our lot was cast, any person with whom I 



166 CONSECRATION 

felt at liberty to hold religious converse. I became 
discouraged, and tempted to believe that vain must 
be my efforts to lead a religious life in the Danish 
Capitol. During the latter part of our sojourn there 
we met a few persons in high life (and more not 
belonging to it) who evidently enjoyed speaking 
about heavenly things. This was especially the case 
with a lady of high rank, whose conversation with 
me never took a worldly turn after discovering that 
we were in religious sympathy with each other. 

This was a most agreeable surprise to me, because 
of the universal impression in Danish society that 
religious conversations must be avoided. One ex- 
cuse made to me for this was that religion is too 
sacred to be talked about ; to do so made one appear 
eccentric. But regardless of this risk two young 
ladies (sisters) were converted in our house a short 
time before our departure, and their mother has 
since found peace in believing in Christ as her 
Redeemer. 

Not finding a gay life at all congenial to my quiet 
tastes, I became much absorbed in my favorite occu- 
pation, painting, and for a few years it was as Lord 
Radstock told me, my idol. This devoted evangelist 
preached several times in our house during his lord- 
ship's sojourn in Copenhagen, and his Christian 
counsel had a blessed influence upon me, for I 
again sought and obtained the Divine favor, enjoy- 
ing communion with God under peculiar difficulties 
during the remaining years of our residence abroad. 



CONSECRATION 167 

For nineteen years my Christian life had been on 
too low a plane ; it had been marked with conflicts, 
and I regret to confess that defeats had been more 
numerous than victories, though I still held fast my 
confidence in God and daily sought His guidance. 
Believing that He never intended we should alter- 
nately advance and recede along the "straight and 
narrow way," and knowing that many press steadily 
forward, I resolved by Divine help to do the same. 
With this heaven-inspired purpose in my soul, I 
spent the following summer at Ocean Grove, N. J., 
availing myself of its abundant means of grace. My 
soul hungered and thirsted after righteousness, and 
very earnest were my efforts in that sacred locality 
to get built up in the most holy faith. 

The counsel and prayers of advanced Christians 
were eagerly sought, and often did I bow in humility 
of soul at the altar of prayer, seeking 3. clean heart. 
To have all inbred sin removed. To comprehend 
with all saints the length and breadth, the height and 
depth, and to know the love of God which passeth 
knowledge that I might be filled with all the fullness 
of God. I longed for the fullness — all that God was 
willing to impart. He heard my prayer. I knew it 
was useless and presumptuous to have a controversy 
with God, and I fully consecrated soul, body and 
spirit to Him, and my heart was brought into com- 
plete subjection to His power. ''Ye shall receive 
power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you," 
and what a change this power had wrought in my 
heart ! 



168 CONSECRATION 

Instead of shrinking from presenting Christ I 
longed for opportunities to do or say something for 
Him, and when you came to me and asked me to 
assist you in the Mothers' Meetings, I felt, though 
unworthy, that God had directed you and the meet- 
ing was a great help to me. In regard to the Bible 
readings given at Ocean Grove, it is certainly kind 
in you and others to think that good came from 
that; but then it was because the Lord had com- 
passion on me and helped me on that occasion. 
Praise His holy name! 

How quickly the dear Lord opens doors of labor 
before us when we are prepared to enter them. 
While spending a week in Aubumdale, I met Miss 
Frances E. Willard. After a little conversation we 
separated, and very soon I was informed that I had 
been elected Superintendent of Evangelistic Work 
in that State for the W. C. T. U. About two hours 
before I was aware of my appointment I opened 
the Bible to Joel 111, 13: "Put ye in the sickle, for 
the harvest is ripe; come, get you down, for the 
press is full, the fats overflow ; for the wickedness 
is great." I was much impressed with the com- 
mand in the verse. It seemed like a divine seal 
upon the work given me to do. Its importance, and 
my own sense of unfitness for it, would overwhelm 
and discourage me, but for my faith in God, and I 
dare not shrink from it after crying to God so long 
in a foreign land to fit me for service and use me. 
Perhaps this is his way of answering my prayer. 



CONSECRATION 169 

Your charitable disposition leads you to overrate 
me. I have no gifts to rely upon, but must look 
simply to Jesus in this emergency, strengthened by 
the thought that He often uses the weak things of 
this world to confound the mighty. The blessed 
word of God is increasingly precious to me, and I 
covet a sphere of life that will help me to live for 
His glory, and to win souls that will shine forever 
in the Savior's crown. 

But should it again be my lot to cross the sea 
and dwell among strangers, I shall take Jesus with 
me, and trusting in Him who is mighty to save, I 
shall expect to be kept faithful, though it be among 
the faithless, and hope to return again to my native 
land endued with power from on high, and ready to 
occupy any place, or perhaps any duty that the Lord 
in His infinite wisdom may assign me. 

Yours in Christ, 

Mary G. Cramer. 

Since writing the above Mrs. Cramer has gone to 
her heavenly home, and now her fondest hopes and 
grandest conceptions of Eternal Life, as expressed 
in song, find realization. 

"So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still 
Will lead me on 
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent till 

The night is gone, 
And with the morn those angel faces smile, 
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile." 



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